The Two Plotters
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Eclipse's Influence. Some months have passed since the crisis involving Virus Daemon. Eclipse, the hacker, doesn't seem capable of doing anything. But then a mysterious "General" appears and manages to take over multiple Internet Cities in an unprecedented scale. A struggle to free the cities and try to defeat this powerful enemy begins... Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Heating up

**The Two Plotters**

 **By Zoram Selrof**

 **Chapter 1: Heating up**

10:23 AM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 2nd, 2012...

"... How's this for a heating up, Hikari?"

"Not bad, Enzan! I guess I missed one of these."

"Heh. But your speed hasn't dropped."

"Guess that!"

"You're as speedy as ever, Blues!"

"Heh. And despite that you're always one step ahead of me, Rock Man!"

Hikari Netto and Ijuuin Enzan (both aged 15) were having a friendly Net Battle in a corner of the Higureya store, sitting on chairs on opposite sides of a table that had a Net Battle terminal: both had their holographic displays of their Link PETs activated and were using them to send Battle Chips to their Navis: the terminal had a projector of its own that displayed how the battle was being held in the classical 9X9 grid: Rock Man had a Long Sword drawn and was clashing with Blues' Long Blade when he tried to step into Rock Man's area: both looked in a good mood.

"Rock Man! Plan D!"

"OK!"

"Plan D, eh? Interesting. Let's see things unfold, Blues!"

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

Rock Man smiled and drew a Long Blade as well: he then used a "Fumikomizan" ability to step into Blues' area and he brought up his shield to block the attack by the two blades: Rock Man quickly pulled back just as Blues swung his Long Blade horizontally and missed Rock Man by a few inches: Rock Man calmly resumed his initial position and stepped back to the farthest row: Blues saw a chance and stepped forward to try to attack with a vertical slash but Rock Man quickly moved one panel upwards and attacked just as Blues was about to attack: his slash made a slight cut on Blues' armor but he didn't flinch and merely retreated into his area.

"I see. So you added an extra effect to your swords."

"Yeah. I thought it could come in handy because the opponent would expect you to use the Battle Chip itself." Netto admitted.

"But I suppose you want to save it up for special occasions?"

"Of course."

"Well, well! This is a pro battle indeed! De masu!" Higure Yamitarou commented as he walked over to them.

"Evidently." Number Man shrugged.

"Oops! Customers, de masu."

Higure rushed back to the counter when he saw two or three customers coming in and start to looking at the shelves but not before closing a blue curtain to give them intimacy: Netto and Enzan were focused on their Net Battle and hadn't shifted their attention from there: both were highly concentrated.

"Plan C!"

"Roger!"

"More plans, huh? Fine! Let's check it out, Blues!"

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

"… Sorry, but the Net Battle machine is being used right now. De masu."

"What? Impossible. It's mine and only mine." A man's voice grumbled.

"No, de masu. It's not yours. And, besides… I'd never seen you here before, de masu."

"If I say it's mine then it's mine."

"None, de masu. I bought it with my money and it legally belongs to me. My lawyer can attest to that, de masu."

"Lawyers? Who? Naruhodou Ryuuichi? Hah!"

"Hey, you. Higure – san's right. You're not from this city and now you claim that the Net Battle machine is yours. Who do you think you are, the spoiled son of some CEO? You're a high school student and behave like a kid in elementary, man!" A younger customer complained.

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah! Mr. Policeman… See, this young man… He claims that this store's Net Battle machine is his despite that he's never set foot here before. De masu. And laughed when I said my lawyer would prove that it's mine."

"Hum. I see."

"Hah! You don't scare me. Daddy will crush you!"

"Oh yes? Who is he? The CEO of Panasonic?"

"Hmpf! Panasonic is history!"

"… I can't concentrate." Netto grumbled.

"Great. Some idiot had to come wreck our training." Enzan fumed.

"Let's hope the policeman kicks some sense into that guy." Rock Man turned off the swords and sighed.

"Yeah. Let's hope so." Blues also did the same.

"Well, young man… Your father might be a powerful CEO but that doesn't mean that you can do as you please. You might have powerful lawyers but that doesn't give you the right to mock his lawyer. If he's such a powerful CEO then why don't you ask him to buy you one to have at home so that you can use it whenever you want?" The policeman sighed.

"That's not fun. I want to show everyone I'm the strongest man in this nation!"

"Strongest, huh? Based on what? Intimidation? Coercion?" Enzan suddenly came out of the cubicle to discuss with the guy.

"Huh? I've seen you somewhere before, punk."

"Same here… Ah! I remember. You're the son of the Big Company's CEO, aren't you?" Enzan recognized him.

"Geh! You're Ijain from APS!"

"Ijuuin from IPC. Remember people's names. Didn't your daddy teach you to do that?"

"Hah! You're a lazy moron who slacks off work, I know it!"

"Oh yeah? Talk about yourself. Thinking some proxies will do the job?"

"Of course!"

"I don't think so. They might be talented people but the investors would rather have someone who inherits the will of the current CEO leading the business to ensure it doesn't stray off its main goal… Speaking of which, you bet so much in that "Booster System" yet it was full of structural errors and incomplete segmentations… You realized it was taking far more time than you thought it'd take and instead of delaying its sale you released an incomplete product." Enzan lectured.

 _As expected of Enzan, right, Netto – kun?_ Rock Man called out to him.

 _Sure thing, niisan. He'll surely get rid of that spoiled jerk and we'll be able to resume our training._

"Guh… Kuh… Sh…! I'll remember this!"

"There goes. Spoiled kids indeed. When confronted with reality they'd rather run away from it than face it."

"Indeed, indeed… Well then, I'll resume my patrol. Good morning."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"It's nothing."

"Ijuuin…? Ah! You're that famed Official Net Battler! Wow!"

"Guess that. Got stuff to handle so I'll be going back to it. And don't try to peek."

"O-OK…"

Enzan returned into the cubicle and sighed before stretching and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh well. Let's resume."

"Sure."

Both Navis got back into combat stances and drew their swords: Rock Man quickly stepped forward and tried a combination of a thrust, a vertical slash and a horizontal slash: Blues dodged each of them and then brought up his shield to block them: Blues then countered in a swift diagonal swing that made a slight cut on Rock Man's chest over his emblem: Rock Man merely spun using the inertia and put some distance between them.

"Heh! Diagonal, eh? I'll take note of it." Netto grinned.

"I knew you would. And I'll incorporate that extra effect as well. It'll be in handy to deal with rascals good at running."

"I'd rather send Koopa in a bike after them!"

"From _Mario Kart_ , eh? Let's keep on, Blues!"

"Roger, Enzan – sama!"

"OK! Rock Man! Full speed ahead!"

"Roger, Netto – kun!"

Both combatants rushed for each other and began to clash their blades: Rock Man tried to attack the right hip but Blues quickly aimed his right arm's blade downwards and blocked the attack: he used the left arm one to try to thrust forward but Rock Man ducked and the blade thrust through empty air: he used the left one to make a superficial cut on the front side of Blues' right leg but he didn't mind it: they stepped away to put some distance and evaluate each other.

"I wasn't expecting that one. Another one for the list!"

"Sure thing. How about we end it up "grand style"?"

"Why not…" Enzan grinned.

"Heh. Let's do this! Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Slot In!"

"DREAM SWORD!"

"Same here! DREAM SWORD!"

Both Navis readied the "Dream Sword" Program Advance and flung it at each other: they collided and caused a bright explosion yet none of them were harmed in the least: they walked forward and shook hands.

"OK. This was a good heat-up. I've got a meeting at the HQ so I'm leaving. See you around, Hikari." Enzan stood up, satisfied.

"Sure thing, Enzan. If you need another of these then ring me up."

He extended his right hand and Enzan shook it with energy.

"Heh. Well then… See you!"

10:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Tee, heh, heh."

"What's up, Yaito – chan?"

"Listen up, Meiru – chan! The CEO of the Big Company is a spoiled high-schooler who thinks he's the strongest! Was trying to say Higureya's Net Battle machine was his!"

"Somehow, it doesn't surprise me in the least. Seeing your behavior from time to time…"

"Well, but at least I'm not saying police doesn't scare me!"

"Huff. I'm beaten from this gym session and least I need is a headache. What's the next topic on the local news?"

"Glyde will invent the Gliding League!"

"The madness! It's coming back, Roll – san!"

"Calm down, Glyde! Sheesh!"

Sakurai Meiru was sitting in a chair next to a static bicycle set in a gym inside of the Akanoyouji mansion judging by a nearby portrait of Akanoyouji Yaito dressed as a princess.

She wore the school's P.E. uniform and had a tower over her shoulders: she held a bottle of Aquarius on her right hand which was three-quarters empty.

Yaito also wore the P.E. uniform and looked up to something given her grin as she read up info from her PET: she made one of her silly jokes and Glyde began to despair while Roll tried to calm him down.

"I'm sure there's plenty of them across the world by now to begin with, Yaito – chan. You don't impress me." Meiru sighed.

"So?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"So… What?"

"What's that secret of Hikari – kun that you've got?"

"None of your business, Yaito – chan. I made a promise."

"But, you know…"

"I'm serious. I'm not a hypocrite." She was getting annoyed.

"Yikes! Alright, alright!"

"Who told you that, anyway?"

"Roll did."

"Did you, Roll?"

"No, Meiru – chan."

"I have no recollection of that, either." Glyde frowned.

"Then it had to be that gal." Meiru sighed.

"What gal?"

"Eclipse."

"Eclipse? Is she related to those weird guys from the summer?" Yaito asked, frowning.

"Well… In some degree, yeah. But at least the "Committee" have set their eyes on her. Seeing how she's the type that will use any means to achieve her petty interests… The type that will infiltrate a criminal org but instead of trying to actively sabotage it she used it for her profits instead." Meiru explained.

"I see. But why would she tell me that?"

"Maybe the gal is so itching to figure it out that she thought in a whim to try to exploit our friendship. Thinking that, as a fellow girl, I'd tell you stuff that I wouldn't tell the guys." She shrugged.

"Oh. I see. Wait… Eclipse… Is she related to that duo? What was it? Sun & Moon?"

"Sunlight & Moonlight." Roll corrected.

"Oh no. She's not. I think she coined her name time ago, before those two were designed. But then again there's a lot of characters named "Eclipse"… For example… There's the "Eclipse" summon from the _Golden Sun_ series."

"Ah yeah. I remember those games. They were fun but challenging."

"Sure."

"Excuse us, Yaito – sama." There was a knock at the door.

"Ah, it's the strawberry milk… Come in!"

"Yes, miss."

Two of Yaito's maids came in: one was pushing a trolley with a glass bottle of strawberry milk and two cups: the other one filled both glasses and put the bottle back inside of a metallic cube filled with water and ice: they both bowed and left the gym.

"Want some?"

"No, thanks. I've got this Aquarius here, anyway." She removed the cap and drank some more.

"OK."

Yaito picked one of the glasses and sipped some: she smiled and seemed to be getting in the mood to pull one of her pranks: Meiru sighed and rolled his eyes, seeing it coming.

"By the way! Did you know?"

"Know… What? Another of your titles? At this rate you'll have more titles than the Royal Family." Meiru tried to guess.

"I'm going to be the Strawberry Baroness!"

"Oh, sure. Patent that for an adventure novel. The Strawberry Baroness that goes on searching for the Fountain of Eternal Strawberry." Meiru improvised as if to shake her off.

"Good attempt, Meiru – chan! But I'm not giving up so easily. Tee, heh, heh!"

"Good grief."

"I'm going to show up in a CM about this brand of strawberry milk! I'll make them famous! All thanks to Baroness Yaito – sama!"

"Does your father approve of that or you arranged it on your own?"

"D-daddy is unrelated." She gulped all of a sudden and began to nervously sweat as she looked around the room.

"Thought as much. Gabcom is a game-making company, you know?"

"Of course I know! I'm the heiress!"

"I don't see what they gain from sponsoring a strawberry milk maker, anyway. Unless they're so desperate for publicity that they want to put ads or promotions on the bottles' labels." Meiru calmly argued as she drank some more Aquarius.

"Just you wait and see!"

"Oh boy." Glyde sighed.

"Huff. Does her father know or…?" Roll asked in a whisper.

"I did send him several messages but he's in the middle of negotiating a new contract with Valve Software regarding PC and Linux ports for some of the most recent Gabcom games…" Glyde answered.

"Did she really contact the maker?"

"Not really. But she's hired a company through an alias to do the preparations and they're already underway…"

"Lovely. What about the head maid?"

"She is but an employee. She has no authority to stop Yaito – sama's decisions… An aspect I've argued with Mr. President several times but he always shrugged it off."

"Sheesh. Someone needs to have the authority to put a halt to her crazy ideas when her father isn't around to oversee things." Roll fumed.

"Yes, that's what I argued and yet…"

"What are you two hushing about? Oho. Roll… Did you just propose to Rocky and you want Glyde to be the godfather?"

"E~H?" Glyde was baffled.

"Very funny!" Roll wasn't amused in the least.

"What's the point? Navis don't have children, you know."

"Ah. But they can ask for a programmer to build a child-model Navi that carries on some characteristic of either and has a basic AI that can be expanded upon…" Yaito grinned.

"Don't tell me that's a new line of business you intend to start."

"Oh, no. It's already being done overseas. A lot of those are popping up there and there in Ameroupe. It's called the "Cyber Baby Boom" by some media." Yaito replied.

"They don't know what to invent anymore, huh? And what's it supposed to achieve, anyway?" Meiru wasn't too surprised.

"Gals who'd like to have a baby but don't want the artificial insemination deal… They can have a "Cyber Baby" instead and along with their Navi raise it together. At least that's what most users admit."

"Well… We'll see where it leads to. I'm sure there'll be some controversy at some point nevertheless."

"Isn't there always, anyway? Oh well. I need a shower."

"Same here. I've cooled a bit but I need a proper shower to take care of this sweat." Meiru stood up.

"This gym wing includes the changing rooms and showers as well so we can do it like we were in the school but there'll be only the two of us. It'll be quieter." Yaito smiled.

"I hope you don't try one of your typical shower pranks. You know that I'm not fond of them unlike some of the other girls in the class." Meiru warned her.

"O-of course I won't!" Yaito gulped.

"Good. I'll have a glass of that strawberry milk, too. I've got some Aquarius left but I'll save it up for another day."

Meiru walked over the tray and picked the second glass: she slowly drank some and stopped to savor it: she looked mildly satisfied so she kept on drinking: Yaito was talking with Glyde in the meanwhile while Roll was looking up information.

"… We're too young for this, anyway. We're both busy, too. This can wait… Maybe this boom will fade away in less than a month, even."

"Sure. These things last less than Jupiter's rotation to begin with."

"Yaito – sama… I insist again. Let's stop this deal with the CM."

"You're too much of a worrywart, Glyde! Leave it up to me! Heh!"

11:03 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Halt! Who goes there?"

"It's me, Yamato Man… Who else did you expect to come?"

"Hum. You never know, Forte. A guardian can't lower the guard."

"Well… You've got a point. Some rascals have managed to come here before, after all."

"Ah. Forte. So you did come."

"Of course. Did you think I wouldn't?"

"I thought you were in Thailand, so…"

Yamato Man readied his spear when someone approached him in the Secret Area: the visitor was Forte who came in walking: he resumed his normal pose and Forte admitted he had a point: Serenade then came in by climbing down the stairs leading up to his square.

"Thailand? Me? Who told you that?"

"Rafael did."

"Rafael can come in here?" Forte frowned.

"Oh no. I'd gone to Internet City to help Mamoru with some errands he wanted to do… And we crossed paths." Serenade explained.

"… Ah! I did mention Thailand saying that Bubble Man was caught trying to scam tourists in Bangkok Internet City… But I didn't go there, I just heard it from someone in Twitter…" Forte clarified.

"Ah. So he wasn't paying attention and misunderstood that you were going to Thailand instead. Oh well. No – one's perfect."

"Yeah. Not like I was going to discuss with Rafael over that."

"But I'm surprised nevertheless that Bubble Man dared to leave his workshop to go to Bangkok of all places."

"I was surprised, too! It'd seem they kicked the guy back here and revoked him permission to travel abroad. He's still a WWW member even if the WWW was dismantled. And he cheated at ice hockey as well."

"But apart from that he hasn't done any real harm."

"Yeah. And that's why both Officials and Net Police have let the guy do as he likes all this time."

"Yes. The Net Police is the anti-cyber terrorism branch of the police that was reformed into a stand-off organization… To help coordinate the Official Net Battlers… The Net Police normally gathers the information and manages petty Net crime but they are also authorized to handle general threats along with the Officials… It's a form of ensuring that the Officials don't gain too much authority and begin to chase interests of their own and not those who pose a real threat…" Serenade recalled.

"Ah, yeah? Thanks for reminding me, I hadn't bothered to figure out the legal differences between each org. By the way, what category does the "Hunters' Guild" fall in, then?"

"They're collaborators who can work independently of the Net Police but have no authority to arrest, only to investigate. Formal arrest and all are handled by either Net Police or the Official Net Battlers."

"Hum. I see. Guess Omega and the others fall into the same category, then…"

"I suppose."

"Things have been ever since late August, though… We were expecting Eclipse to make a move but it'd seem the woman's smart enough to know it's pointless… Shouldn't have a reason to, now that Virus Daemon is locked up in the brig once and for all."

"Yes. But she cannot be trusted, nevertheless. She can be very amoral and has her own way of doing things…"

"Obviously. But the "Committee" guys are keeping an eye on that woman. They should be able to detect if she gets in the move."

"Rattling devils!" Dark Man complained close by.

"What's the matter?" Yamato Man asked him.

"Huff! I found a bunch of bounty hunters who were trying to abduct me saying I'm the Navi of the Konami CEO and wanted to use me as hostage to get ransom money! What idiots. I sent them running and called Mist Man to teach them a lesson about the rules of the Reverse Internet. What idiots!" He explained.

"Dark Man, the Navi of the Konami CEO…? Oh come on. They must be newbies who haven't heard of him." Forte rolled his eyes.

"By the way, what about your pet?"

"Pet? Gospel Jr.? Ah. It's on the Science Labs. It'd seem Meijin wanted to further study the outer armor to try to recreate it and use as building material…"

"Hum. I see."

"I apologize for the scandal." Dark Man hovered in and bowed.

"No need to bow, my friend. I never ordered you to bow before me or be loyal to me." Serenade replied.

"Thank you."

"Did they look like newbies?" Forte asked Dark Man.

"Hard to say. They felt like they were foreigners, in my opinion. From another Asian nation, I think. But what idiots… Like the Navi of the Konami CEO would be openly roaming in the depths of the Reverse Internet… Speaking of which… I spotted Shadow Man. It'd seem he's after the trail of some smugglers."

"Hi, guys. What's up?" Urakawa Mamoru opened a holographic window: he had a headset of a mike plus headphone on.

"No big deal. Some stupid bounty hunters that thought that Dark Man was the Navi of the Konami CEO."

"Really? They sure were stupid, no? Did they think that the CEO modelled him after a _Castlevania_ character?"

"Maybe." Serenade shrugged.

"I will return to my patrol."

"Alright. One thing, Dark Man… Anger does not solve problems." Serenade warned him.

"Of course, my lord."

"By the way, Urakawa… Did that chess guy show up again?"

"Torakichi – kun? Sure did. Why does he bother to, anyway?" He sighed.

"Dunno. Beats me, too."

"I don't play Net Chess to begin with, anyway. And we got to know each other just because he was stopping in this inn to begin with. I heard that his latest tournament he messed up a lot and ended up 5th place… I guess he got cocky with his previous victories." Urakawa sighed again.

"That is a possibility. And to try to appeal as he strong he wants to challenge people with no experience. How the might have fallen."

"Yeah, that's exactly it! How the mighty have fallen indeed!"

"Did the hacker duo invite you to their club?" Forte suddenly asked.

"Hacker duo? You mean that Obihiro – kun and his cousin? No, they haven't. We haven't met each other yet. I guess we've both heard about each other but there's been no contact as of yet. And why do you need to ask that, Forte?"

"You never know."

"That's hardly an answer, mind you."

"Maybe I was expecting "The Three Geniuses" instead of the "The Three Musketeers"…" Forte chuckled.

"How lame." He didn't find it funny.

"Blame Omega. He's the one who came up with that."

"I had the feeling." Serenade sighed as if he'd seen it coming.

"Man. You didn't think of becoming a fortune-teller? You seem to predict stuff from time to time, too."

"I always fail to see the point in something that has no scientific foundation whatsoever."

"You're not the only one." Urakawa admitted.

"Hop and behold! It's the advent of the edgy edges!"

"Edgy edges? Please. Even a kid can come up with that pun."

"Maybe yea maybe nay, Mr. Smith. I'm off to picking up my pet. Petting pets. Heh, heh, heh!"

"Somehow I think his old, serious self was better."

"To some extent." Serenade replied.

"Well. Maybe he wasn't intended to be THAT dry and serious but his trauma and the passage of time did that to him."

"Indeed… We mustn't forget that he's a victim of fools who tried to stop progress… Fools afraid of the inevitable future…"

"Hmmm? What's this? Ah. It's nothing, just a Twitter suggestion about a tweet that some of the people I follow have liked… Nothing out of place. But autumn is about to hit us full blast, given these weather forecasts I'm looking at…" Urakawa muttered as he glanced at his right to something off-screen.

"Obviously."

"What now? Oh come on! Forte! "3 Geniuses of Hack and Crack: Soon in Theaters!"… That's not funny!" He groaned.

"Huff. At least it's not as unbearable as when Omega, Zero and him were running around and trolling."

"I know that, but…! Sheesh. To the garbage bin!"

"Hmmm… Make sure to have a look at the physical servers later. We need to make sure to secure some exits just in case."

"Just in case? Do you expect trouble?"

"Something tells me that "Eclipse" could attempt to impair roads to delay our arrival to the scene of trouble… So it would be better to have escape routes to the real world just in case. Ready a terminal with Bluetooth that can allow us to exit the Secret Area itself and then jump to your PC. We don't want to be cornered by that hacker, do we?" He exposed.

"Alright. I'll get working on that right away."

"… Huh? Who…? Nothing…? But I could've sworn that… Ah. Maybe it's her or a proxy… Had the feeling something was looking at me from close by but it's gone… Speaking of the devil, its shadow looms over us…"

"Oh well. Let's not allow that to sink our morale."

"You're right, Mamoru. I better resume my training as well."

 _Too much "peace" can dull one's senses… I must sharpen them again!_


	2. Chapter 2: Chit-chat

**Chapter 2: Chit-chat**

07:43 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday October the 4th…

"… Say, Delta…"

"What's up, Hiro – kun?"

"Have you heard?"

"Heard… What?"

"They say that sharpened sharps will drop by!"

"What's that? Another pun by Forte? Sheesh."

A teen guy was walking down a street while talking to his Navi.

The guy's jet black hair was a mess, much like Netto's, and his eyes' irises were blue.

He wore a thick blue coat over a middle school uniform.

His PET was colored red and white and had a lowercase "delta" character painted silver over a black background as emblem.

"Akashi Hiro – sama says… Bring out the rattlin' snakes!" The guy, Akashi Hiro, chuckled at his lame wordplay.

"Rattling snakes? Oh come on."

"And the Delta Team!"

"Can't you spend a day without coming up with some pun?"

His Navi, Delta, was projecting with the hologram display.

Delta's main body color was jet black while his forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.

His face looked strikingly similar to Rock Man's although he had some slight differences regarding the eyes' irises (which were blue) and the shape of his cheek bones.

His emblem was the same _delta_ character set on his chest and ear-pads: the central part of his helmet had a murkier silver color to it plus two rectangles and one band cutting across it starting at the back: some jet black hair came out from behind the helmet as well.

Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.

He looked unimpressed as he was crossing his arms.

"Good morning, Hiro – kun."

"Hey, Noa. Did you know? Rattlin' snakes roam 'round!"

"Sure, sure."

"Did you do the ritual?"

"What "ritual"?"

"The "tomo no gishiki"…"

"Sheesh. Stop making puns with my surname! It's written with the Kanji of "together" and "wild"! It's not the Kanji of "friend" with the possessive particle "no"…!"

"Heh, heh! Sorry, man!"

Another student caught up with him from another direction.

This student, Tomono Noa, had neatly combed greenish hair and blue eye irises.

His PET was a green and black model: its emblem was two triangles missing the base and being intercrossed plus three round dots on the middle of the formation and to the sides of it: the whole set was colored bronze and set against a navy blue background.

"Yo! Raf! Did you raffle stuff?" Akashi asked the Navi.

"Sure! Rafael – sama raffles 'em all!"

"They influence each other the whole time, don't they…?" Tomono rolled his eyes and asked Delta.

"Obviously."

Rafael's main body color was black and he struck as being around the same height as Delta.

His face had a hard-to-spot scar in the shape of the Alphabet letter "X" drawn above the nose: his eyes' irises were green and he looked youthful: spiked brown hair came out from behind the helmet.

His head was encompassed within a helmet having a copy of his emblem set on the forehead with a metallic rim: the forehead piece was colored red while the rear part was black: a red stripe extended from the forehead and through the middle of the helmet while heading towards the rear: the sides of his helmet had white armor constructed over them: a small cavity housed the ear-pads from where a red stripe originated and was drawn across it until the end: the helmet design also included two small yellow pieces extending until the edge of the lower jaw.

His chest armor had the emblem set on its middle: three parallel red lines were drawn over its upper edge and extended past the neck's base and apparently until his back: the segment below the emblem was colored yellow and it included a red stripe on the center which extended until the edge of the chest armor.

His shoulders had the shape of a red triangle drawn on their upper face while their main color was black: a thin round yellow stripe was present just where the arms began.

His arms' skin was also gray in this spot yet it soon got covered by black armor having a metallic piece of the elbow colored in a thicker shade of gray: the armor extended until the wrists where a trapeze-shaped piece of armor originated.

His hands were covered in white "gloves" as well like most Net Navis.

Two thin red stripes ran down the unarmored gray-skinned body until the waist where another piece of armor was present: it had the general shape of briefs underwear and the color of choice was black as well.

Yet another red stripe ran down the center of it and curved to continue towards the rear.

One gun-belt colored silver was attached on the waist and had holsters for two guns.

They looked like modified handguns colored purple and having a white muzzle.

His boots began over the knees and extended until the feet: the color of choice was black again and there also was a red stripe running down the length of them across the center.

The outer sides of each one had a white-colored triangle-shaped cavity which included a lower gray edge and a red stripe running down the rightmost edge: his heels' armor was metallic gray in color as well.

Lastly, two white triangle-like extensions protruded from the rear of his body and extended diagonally towards the ground in a SE direction.

Overall, he looked heavily customized and cool.

"If you use up too much energy now you won't have any left for the lessons, guys…"

"Hey! Tooru! Did you meet up with the Duke of Greenland?"

"How funny."

"You know how he is, Hikawa – kun."

"Of course."

Hikawa Tooru appealed as being 7 or 8 centimeters shorter than Akashi: his hair was also chestnut brown in color and his eyes' irises shared a similar color.

His PET was blue and had the drawing of a snow flake against a blue background as emblem.

"Good morning, desu." Ice Man greeted.

"Good morning, Ice Man." Both Navis replied.

"There's the others. Morning!"

"Morning!"

"Hey, Hiro! Today I become Champ of Akihara City!"

"Bring it on, Dekao!"

Ooyama Dekao challenged Akashi who wasn't impressed: Guts Man was punching his chest like a gorilla in the meanwhile.

"Day-dreaming already? I guess you didn't properly wash your face, Dekao – kun…" Meiru wasn't too impressed.

"He lives in Dream Land along with the Pink Devil." Yaito giggled.

"Oh come on. Don't call poor Kirby like that. That nickname's overused."

"Well. What matters is that we start the day with energies. Don't you agree, Saito – niisan?"

"Sure…"

Netto was talking to his brother Saito as he looked on at the mood of the class' members: they all were stepping inside of the middle school building by now.

"And rowin' the rows is the rower!" Rafael was telling Guts Man.

"Guts! And beatin' the jerks is Beat 'Em All Guts Man!"

"Too long." Roll muttered, unimpressed.

"Oh dear…" Glyde sighed.

"The usual routine…" Delta shrugged.

"Yes, desu…"

"I've got a new secret weapon! My charisma!" Dekao grinned.

"Charisma? Oh, sure." Meiru sighed.

"Hah! None can beat mine!" Yaito laughed.

"Maybe your father did when he found out what you were up to?" Meiru nonchalantly suggested.

"Yikes! Glyde talks too much!"

"It's his programming. Your father decided that. Argue that with him."

Yaito muttered something undecipherable but Meiru didn't pay attention as she and the rest of the students took out the street shoes and put on the in-building shoes: they resumed their walk and climbed up a couple of floors before entering the 3-A classroom.

"We're at 3rd of middle school in case you'd forgotten. They expect us to be rather mature at this point, Yaito – chan." Meiru reminded her.

"I might a couple years younger than the rest of you but…!"

"But you need to remember that things will be very, very demanding from now on. Don't expect a walk into the park."

"I know that! Huff! Let's get this on with and I'll show you what I can do!"

08:14 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hi! Anyone at home~?"

"Hyu~h! Well, it's Forte and Gospel Jr.! What's up, fellows?"

"No big deal. What about you?"

"Mist Man asked us to corner some bounty hunters trying to find Dark Man saying he was the Navi of the Konami CEO…"

"I know. I was there when Dark Man came in, complaining."

"The rest of the guys are there and there. I got the short end of the stick. I suspect Cloud Man rigs things to begin with."

"Well, you never know."

Forte stepped into a one-story non-descript cubical building in Internet City which contained a main room and nothing else: Blizzard Man had been looking at videos of a snowboarding tournament when Forte came in followed by a smaller version of "Gospel", the "Ultimate Bug Fusion Body" which Rock Man had defeated years before.

"Any news on that female hacker?" Blizzard Man asked.

"I asked Chief Lezareno on my way here but he said she hasn't done anything outstanding insofar. But once she does they'll have what we need to shut her up for a while."

"Hyu~h! That Virus rascal was SO annoying… I hope that this woman doesn't prove to be as annoying at that rascal!"

"Let's hope that, yeah."

"Customers, Blizzard Man? Ah. It's you, Forte."

"Hey, Red. Come down from Mt. Shirogane?"

"Hah, hah. How funny. I'm Red Sword and I don't have anything to do with "Red" from the _Pokémon_ games."

A Navi named Red Sword joined them: he had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them.

A purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it.

They ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee.

They had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

"As dry as usual, eh?"

"More like serious. Anyway! Blizzard Man. Any new messages?"

"Nope. Else I'd radioed you already."

"Good point. It's just that I caught one of those idiots and was saying something about one of them hiding in this area…"

"Did you think they were hiding here?"

"Yeah. Thought you'd come out as well."

"Nope. I take my duty seriously, man."

"Alright. I'll resume searching. Cloud Man and Cosmo Man are also searching the nearby areas."

"OK!"

"Beware of the Bubbly Elixir!"

"HMPF!"

Red Sword dashed out, unimpressed, while Forte chuckled at his joke: "Gospel Jr." growled and came out while Blizzard Man rolled his eyes as if he didn't like the pun either.

"Hey. Bubble Man made it up, not me."

"I knew that. But I don't see what you gain from annoying Red."

"To prove the guy's but a _tsundere_! Heh!"

"Huff. I think that'll be counter-productive."

"You never know! Heh, heh, heh…"

Forte walked out of the building and walked down one of the main streets until he reached the surroundings of the stadium: a Cyber Soccer match was going on given the cheering of the audience: he spotted Cosmo Man and Cloud Man close by who were talking.

"I wrapped them up and Blues handled the rest. What about you?" Cloud Man asked him.

"I found their boss hiding in a garbage gin… Was so stupid to put a sticker that read "don't open it or you'll be doomed"…" Cosmo Man grumbled as if he found the whole deal to be stupid.

"What idiots." Cloud Man fumed.

"Truly!"

"They don't look like they're in the mood for chit-chat… Let's go try to find the Maha Ichiban guys." Forte muttered.

"Grawl."

They headed away into another square with people coming and going: the former WWW Navis Fire Man, Elec Man, Colored Man and Magic Man were discussing something as well.

"Hey. Guys. What's up?" Forte asked.

"Huh? Ah. It's you, Forte. No big deal, save that…" Fire Man grumbled.

"Count Elec and Hinoken are back at it." Elec Man grumbled.

"They accuse each other of cheating in _Mario Kart: Wii_ again."

"They don't learn!" Magic Man sighed.

"Man. That's some bad luck streak."

"You needn't tell us. We're out of ideas."

"And to top it off…!"

"What happened?"

"I got a mail that said "one of you is a hacker"…" Elec Man hissed.

"And that only made things worse, huh?"

"Of course, man! They beat each other up and Madoi struggled to split them along with the Net Police guys." Colored Man sighed.

"Mahajarama – san suggests it might be the handiwork of "Eclipse", that hacker who was involved in the whole affair with Virus Daemon back in August…" Magic Man added.

"I see. So she tries to start up a ruckus by using an existing rivalry… Did you try sending this mail to the Net Police?"

"Of course I did."

"Well, they'll soon figure out if it was her or someone else…"

"Yeah. But I'm afraid that it won't suffice to get rid of the paranoia and mistrust." Fire Man sighed.

"Puku! Bubbly Beans! They heal all your cracks! Puku! 1000 Z each! It's a bargain sale, de puku!" Bubble Man suddenly showed up there carrying a cardboard box with a hand-written label that read "Bubbly Beans".

"Well, well, well… Let devil bite me if it isn't Bubble Man."

"YIKES! The Western bandit, de puku!"

"Western? As in a far west film about cowboys? Sure, why not?" Forte chuckled.

"Another scam, huh? You can't do anything else but that, huh?" Elec Man wasn't impressed.

"And YOU say that, puku? You're WWW Navis as well and you do nothing useful!" Bubble Man grumbled.

"We do. We run a curry restaurant." Fire Man shot back.

"Well, I invent stuff!"

"But it's all a load of junk to begin with. What do you hope to achieve with that, anyway? Money?"

"Of course! Puku! Money will bring the WWW back!"

"Dream on. The WWW was Wily's creation. With the old geezer in the brig then that's not going to happen." Forte shrugged.

"Grawl!"

"YIKES! The giant dog! Puku! Run for your beans! PUKU~!"

Gospel Jr. suddenly loomed over Bubble Man from behind and lowered the head to glare at him: Bubble Man panicked and dropped the empty box before running away.

"It's empty. As expected of the idiot." Elec Man fumed, unimpressed.

"Yeah. Let's go back to work." Fire Man suggested.

The four of them warped away from the area and Forte shrugged before resuming his walk: he spotted a "Monster Ball" in the ground which he picked up and opened yet it was empty save for a rolled piece of paper: he unrolled it and read it up.

"… "Sneaky Western _desperado_ will beat up the Duke of Mightiness"… What a load of a crap. It's gotta be that woman's sense of humor. It's not half-funny to begin with." He grumbled.

"Grawl."

"Oh, well. She'll eventually make a mistake and give us a reason to lock her up, too. Else she'll turn out into another headache."

"Grawwlll…"

"Let's not get annoyed, though. Let's go patrol the patrol. Heh!"

10:58 AM (Japan Time)…

"… You got it wrong again. It's Sword, Wide Sword and Long Sword. Not Wide Sword, Long Sword and Sword."

"But the manual said that…"

"What manual?"

"The manual you sent me!"

"I never sent any manual. Someone's trolling you."

"Grrrr! Gate Man! Do something about it!"

"Do something? Easier said than done."

Gate Man was instructing a Navi in an area of the Science Labs' Homepage about the "Dream Sword" Program Advance: the Navi complained but Gate Man wasn't impressed.

"It's gotta be Jack's handiwork!"

"Jack? Ah, yeah. Another one of the new trainees… Do you really need to rival each other, anyway?" Gate Man questioned.

"I'm greater than that rascal!"

"And why's that?"

"Because I'm fated to be famous!"

"Oh, sure." Gate Man rolled his eyes.

"Hey, tell me! Is it true?"

"What?"

"That a rookie civilian Net Battler beat THE Shadow Man…!"

"Well, he didn't have the "A" License yet but he had experience fighting other powerful Navis…" Gate Man admitted.

"So I can do the same!"

"If you want to start a brawl you came to the wrong place. Did you properly read the ad? This recruitment and training program is for Science Labs Security Force Members… In short, you're in charge of keeping Virus and such away from our firewalls… And patrolling."

"Wha? It isn't for the Force 21?"

"Force 21? No. Who told you that, anyway?"

"YOU told me!"

"I have no record of that."

"I mean, YOU sent me an email!"

"Show it to me." Gate Man calmly ordered.

"Fine! Here!"

"This address isn't mine. "gatelordofmoria scilab com" … Someone's trolled you. This email is a joke." Gate Man told the trainee.

"What? Jack! You rascal!"

"Do you have any solid evidence that Jack's to blame for this?"

"T-that's… Well…" The trainee trailed off.

"Huff. Arrogance will hardly help you beat strong guys, you know. Something tells me you won't make it past the "B" License guys… If what you want is brawls then leave and show off your skills at the Internet City stadium." Gate Man sighed, annoyed.

"Fine! Got no use for you, old-timer!"

"Old-timer? My AI's mental age is 25. I was built less than 5 years ago, too. That hardly makes me an old-timer even by Net Navi standards." Gate Man didn't lose his calm.

"HMPF!"

The trainee walked away while grumbling something undecipherable: Gate Man sighed and brought up a list.

"Next. Ushio."

"OK! So! What's the trick to becoming King of the Internet?" Another trainee came in.

"HUH? King of the Internet? Oh come on. Show me the email that told you to come here, will you? Same fake address as before… You got trolled."

"Wha? By whom?"

"Dunno. It's not my job to figure that out. Hire a private detective if you must." Gate Man sighed.

"Grrrr! Ota and Seyo! They tricked me! Wait, you rascals!" This trainee also ran off while blaming someone.

"I've got a hunch of the author of those stupid emails." Meijin muttered over the radio.

"Who doesn't, anyway?"

"Trouble?"

"To some extent, Zero…"

Zero walked over to them: his face remained immobile, as usual: Gate Man turned to speak with him.

"I suspect that "Eclipse" wants to laugh at me and Meijin so she's spreading fake emails luring ambitious types here who think I'm in charge of something "cool"…" He explained.

"Huff. I had the hunch she'd be a headache!"

"Who didn't, anyway? But we lack enough evidence to press charges against her at the moment. Trolling doesn't count and I'm sure we can't backtrack these emails to confirm she sent them." Meijin grumbled, annoyed.

"Hey! Is this where they train you into "Champ of the Nation"?" Another Navi rushed in.

"No." Both Navis flatly replied.

"B-but…"

"That email is a troll by a hacker." Gate Man told the Navi.

"Wha? Damn it! And here I thought I knew how to tell trolls apart from the real stuff!"

"It's because you guys only seem to care about "cool" things instead of practical things. If you want "cool" then go take part in Net Battles. The Science Labs only trains security staff. We're about to make an official announcement about that." Gate Man added.

"O-OK… Sorry for that, man…"

"Huff. Yeah. Let's publish an article in the front page and clear things up once and for all else we'll be invaded by a ton of guys like these. I'll handle it, Zero, so you can go back to your job." Meijin began to type.

"OK. If there's some stubborn idiot then give me a ring and I'll put some pressure into them."

"But let's not overdo it either." Gate Man warned.

"Of course."

Zero returned to his post while Gate Man sighed: he walked over to some Security Navis close by.

"Anything unusual?"

"No. Everyone had their authorizations and their Operators identified themselves as well." One of them replied.

"Fine. If you see any Navi doing anything outside of what they're supposed to do then question them."

"Roger."

"Of course, you needn't turn paranoid. Just behave like always and put a bit of attention from time to time."

"Understood."

"There. I posted the message. Now I'm going to spread it through Facebook, Twitter, LINE, WhatsApp and such." Meijin announced.

"Good. That should keep some of those at bay."

"Meijin? Are you here?" Hikari Yuuichirou asked.

"Yes, sir. What is it, sir?"

"Are we holding a tournament of pumpkins for Halloween?"

"No, sir! Someone's spreading jokes, sir."

"Ah. I had that feeling. Maybe I need a coffee."

"The scheduled updates are proceeding and will be done by Friday so that we can release them on Sunday." Meijin reported.

"Good job. I'm finishing the improvements to the firewalls as well."

"Roger, sir."

"By the way… Halloween was in the 21st?"

"No, sir. The 31st."

"Ah! I had the feeling. I guess I mixed it up with some other event on that day… Well then. Back to work!"

"Roger, sir."

"Huh? Oh come on. This is ridiculous." Gate Man suddenly groaned.

"What? A reply to the Twitter tweet? From a user named "Jess"… "Meijin – chan lacks passion. Let's invite him to our place."… Sheesh. It must be an attempt at a "bait click"… Let's report this tweet so that it gets deleted and a warning is sent to this user." Meijin grumbled.

"Another one! "Zero – chan lacks stuff. Pity."… Zero lacks stuff? What stuff? Emotions? If he feels like he doesn't need them then it doesn't matter." Gate Man fumed.

"Sure… Let's just block this user and hope they don't come back… But something tells me they will…"

"Guess we'll have to do the same in the other social media as well. I'll ask a couple of Program – kun to take care of the filtering."

"Yeah. We can't spend the whole day handling these. We've got the updates and the training to take care of, after all."

Gate Man merely nodded as he walked over to a couple of Program – kun and handed them some files: both nodded and hovered away to handle the job they'd been charged with.

"There. Now let's go see if there any real applicants to the security staff job… Or maybe there still are some types who got fooled by those troll emails… We're just doing our job! Why can't they leave us on peace? I'd like to teach them what it means to them, too." Gate Man growled.

"Oh, sure. I'd like to, too. But now's not the time for that."

"5 applicants… Fine. Let's study them one by one."

"I'm counting on you, Gate Man. If you need help give me a ring."

"Sure, Meijin. Let's get to work and hope we can finish this today…"


	3. Chapter 3: Like a bolt of lightning

**Chapter 3: Like a bolt of lightning**

12:43 PM (Japan Time), Thursday October the 6th…

"… It'd seem that Obama is the favorite insofar but that Romney guy is catching up…"

"Nevertheless he doesn't strike as a powerful type, either…"

"… The Zenny is losing value again."

"… Another car accident in a Nagano highway…"

"… Drivers nowadays…"

"Major storms this week… Autumn is upon us indeed."

"… What are we looking for, Red?"

"I'm not entirely sure, either, Cosmo. Shadow Man told me to come with you to Grid 7."

"But that's where the Cyber Bans are at, no?"

"Yeah. Maybe he suspects a bank robbery attempt."

Red Sword and Cosmo Man walked down one of Internet City's main streets as other Navis went on talking and exchanging comments on news they read: Red Sword was calm while Cosmo Man looked rather intrigued at his comment.

"You came." Shadow Man appeared before them.

"Yeah. What is it?" Red Sword asked.

"That woman… Eclipse. She's here."

"What!" Cosmo Man gasped.

"There, behind the Mega Net Bank building… Talking to a giant." Shadow Man signaled a nearby two-story bank building.

"Giant?"

"A man about 3 meters tall who wears a black cloth with a hood. He's talking about Virus Daemon and says they worked together for a while some time ago…" Shadow Man whispered.

"I see. So you wanted us to come to help you with the giant."

"Yeah. If it was the woman's proxy Navi alone then it wouldn't pose much trouble but that giant looks like he could crush you with his mere hands… I thought that a heavy weight like you, Cosmo Man, could stand his ground with the man. And then you, Red Sword, could immobilize him while I catch the woman's proxy Navi. I warned the Officials and Net Police and they're readying a strike team." He detailed.

"Good."

"The sooner we act, the better."

The three of them silently headed into the alleys to the right and left of the bank building: they heard a hushed man's voice talking close by.

"…skeptical." The man was saying.

"You talk a lot. But you haven't shown me what you can do." A woman's voice argued back.

"I was planning to do so. Everything is in place. In another few seconds I can start things up. Was going to do, nevertheless. But I thought I might get an initial idea of you before that, Eclipse." The man calmly replied.

Red Sword brought up a holographic screen and saw footage of a giant man covered in a black tunic with a heavy hood that hid the whole of his body talking to a standard-model female Navi colored pink and crimson: the Navi was crossing her arms while the man kept them inside of the cloak.

"If you must." Eclipse shrugged.

"One suggestion. Plug Out now."

"Something tells me you mean business. Fine. You know my contact number, anyway."

The Navi exited the Internet while the man glanced around the back alley before materializing a simplistic green circle some tens of centimeters tall: he stepped atop it and the circle hovered high into the air: the man and the circle turned invisible but Red Sword merely exited into the main street and looked upwards.

"Stealth camouflage. But I can track them with IR."

"Good. He's heading for the stadium. Let's follow."

The three of them calmly walked down the avenue to not to call for attention and reached the stadium: some large holographic screens were displaying a Net Battle between Guts Man and a bulky Navi.

"Where is he?" Cosmo Man asked.

"Hovering 25 meters above the stadium's arena." Red Sword whispered back as he looked upwards.

"Does he plan on dropping inside the arena and starting a brawl with all Navis there?" Shadow Man wondered.

"Could be."

"But then why bother to tell Eclipse to exit the Internet?" Cosmo Man argued.

"Maybe it's to avoid us catching her on the scene."

"Hum. A message from Blues… He's coming with Search Man, Zero, Forte and Cloud Man…" Shadow Man told them.

"He must've guessed that man won't be easy to catch. He'll surely fight back with ferocity."

"I feel… something? What!"

"What's that?"

They suddenly saw how a formation of transparent hexagons made of energy and having constantly shifting colors began to neatly climb up from the limits of Internet City and build up a dome that was closing in at a very fast speed: the illumination began to fade and some Navis began to look upwards, surprised: the stadium also fell silent as everyone muttered, wondering what was going on.

"This dome… It's a "Dimensional Area"…!" Cosmo Man realized.

"A Dimensional Area inside the Cyber World? That's a first."

The Dimensional Area finished building and, at the same time, several B-52 planes materialized in the skies and began to fly towards the edges of Internet City from the stadium's surroundings: tens of parachute troopers (Heel Navis colored black and crimson) began to jump down from them.

"What the? He's intending to take over the whole city by arms?"

"Damn. Blues and the others didn't make it on time. They're outside the city and they're trying to attack this Dimensional Area but to no avail insofar." Shadow Man grumbled.

"Look!" Cosmo Man gasped.

The air distorted over the stadium and a featureless black circle formed there: something seemed to come out but that "something" was hidden by stealth camouflage: energy streaks suddenly jumped off the Dimensional Area itself and gathered around the "something": the air rumbled as energy began to build up there.

"I've got a bad feeling about this! Let's take cover! NOW!" Red Sword ordered.

Shadow Man and Cosmo Man silently agreed and the trio ran away towards a nearby grid of buildings: they entered a side-alley and took cover behind one of the buildings: everything turned silent for an instant before there was the sound of something heavy crashing into the stadium's arena followed by a series of powerful bluish shockwaves spreading across the whole of Internet City at several heights: they neatly cut through buildings and made all structures taller than each wave's height collapse backwards into other buildings: the "skies" turned pitch-black as if it was nighttime and a roar spread along with the shockwave accompanied by shrikes and cries of panic: the trio had ducked to avoid being hit by the shockwave: in less than a minute all became quiet again.

"What was THAT?" They all gasped.

"This Internet City is now under the control of the Force 2204! It's useless to escape! This dome is indestructible and Plug Out won't work! Neither will Plug – In! In the name of the almighty General… We will rule over this city!" A man's voice boomed out from the stadium.

"Damn. I can sense troopers EVERYWHERE… All main roads are under control already and the remaining tall buildings, too…" Shadow Man whispered.

"It was so fast…! Like a bolt of lightning…!" Red Sword hissed.

"You will be the workforce that will build the necessary weapons to proceed with our conquest! This operation has been carried simultaneously in all major Internet Cities of Japan!"

"Damn. I can't reach Blues and the others now. All communications are impaired… But I guess that local transmissions can still work…" Shadow Man cursed.

"First things first we need to find a better place to hide at. But we can't make much noise." Red Sword told them.

"The sewers…" Cosmo Man whispered.

He silently lifted a slab of terrain to reveal a ladder built in the wall and leading downwards: they silently got inside and Cosmo Man placed the cover back in place as they ended up in a sewer tunnel: Red Sword and Shadow Man investigated the surroundings.

"Nothing. I guess they didn't bother to take control of these. I know there are several shelters built there and there across these sewers. We could use one of them as hideout for now." Shadow Man suggested.

"Fine. We need to figure out their exact numbers and equipment. I've got the hunch that they aren't easy to beat. Even if they were there must be over a hundred of them." Cosmo Man warned.

"Surely. And this "General" is some rascal indeed. I think that what that voice said isn't a bluff. If he can pull this up so quickly and efficiently then he could do the same elsewhere, too."

The group walked down a couple of tunnels until Shadow Man removed a slab in a wall to reveal a rather wide square box about 10 meters wide per 10 meters long and 5 meters tall but which had nothing on it: the three of them stepped inside and Shadow Man placed the slab back in place: they then sat on the floor.

"They've got most of the Navis as hostages too. Any fake move and they could begin to execute them as retaliation. This invasion force must behave like any would do in a real-world war, I guess."

"Let's wait some hours. Then I can crawl across the sewers' tunnels ceiling and listen to the surface sounds to try to get an idea of what's going on there…" Shadow Man suggested.

"Good. Let's begin by going into "sleep mode" and save up energies."

"I agree. I'll keep watch. I'm afraid this is going to be a long day… And that there's no easy way out of this…"

14:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright, have you been able to grasp something?"

"It's all a chaos, sir, but… It would seem that, apart from Densan Internet City… All major Internet Cities have been taken over, sir."

"Tokyo and Kyoto and the likes?"

"Yes, sir… We're still trying to figure out the scope…"

"It's our fault, sir."

"No, Ijuuin – kun. Don't blame yourselves. At least you're safe and sound instead of trapped inside the city."

Yuuichirou was trying to get a hold of the situation while Science Labs technicians rushed in and out of the meeting room with reports: Enzan was standing next to him as Yuuichirou was drawing a map with the PC to mark which cities had been captured: he looked guilty but Yuuichirou firmly told him that he wasn't to blame.

"New report, sir! Sapporo and Nagoya, sir!" A technician ran in.

"Devil." Enzan cursed.

"This so… the scale itself is enough to baffle me, sir." Blues admitted with obvious defeatism.

"Our adversary's tech level is very high. Recreating a Dimensional Area in the Cyber World… I'd been toying with the idea, truth to be told. But I was having trouble finding a way to stabilize them and handle energy conversation and getting rid of build-up heat…" Yuuichirou calmly admitted.

"Maybe they stole your research notes, sir?"

"Probably. But were that to be the case then our foe is also a very careful man. I didn't notice anything out of place in my files or the safe."

"I see."

"What about the other members you'd gathered?"

"They're also going from city to city to try to assess the situation. Non-occupied cities are also in disorder because of data loss and conflicting information…" Enzan explained.

"No wonder…"

"Naha, Okinawa is occupied as well!"

"All four Shikoku prefectures' main cities too!"

"Same for Kyushu as well!"

"A report from the JSDF HQ, sir! A powerful EM pulse has greatly damaged their servers and computers, sir! As well as most vehicles and communications systems, sir!"

"I feared that. Guess that means we'll have to ask for support from the UN and NATO…" Yuuichirou wasn't too surprised.

Enzan's PET rang and he answered to the call after he checked the screen's information: a man appeared onscreen.

He was on his forties, his hair was blonde and neatly combed his face was clean shaven.

He had sunglasses on.

"Mr. Ijuuin?"

"Chief Lezareno. As you might've already grasped, things are utterly chaotic. I'm at the Science Labs and we're just figuring out the scale of things."

"I'm afraid we've got some bad news, too."

"Thought as much." Enzan sighed.

"Mr. Obihiro has been abducted by Eclipse."

"Devil."

"The Net Police did try to arrest her but she wasn't at her workplace or at her home. They're searching both but it'd seem she had another hideout ready. And when I tried to go to Mr. Obihiro's flat I found a paper stuck on the door which said "I've invited Gray to my turf for a while. My friend wants to have fun with the guy. See ya, Wesker's twin bro."…" The man, Lezareno, grumbled.

"I'm afraid I've got further bad news." Another man's voice rang out.

"Colonel Talos. Let me guess. Mr. Karida is gone, too."

"Karida?" Enzan frowned.

"Maybe the name "Zeta" is more familiar to you."

"Ah, yeah. Obihiro's cousin, was it?"

"Indeed. He was in Scotland with his mother but he's vanished as well. It must be Eclipse as well."

Another man appeared onscreen as Lezareno handed them the PET.

This new man, named Colonel Talos, looked as being on his late forties: his hair was grey and parts of it fell down in the front of the face and he seemed to be missing his left eye as well.

"By "friend" does she mean the giant?" Enzan wondered.

"We've got eyewitness statements that Eclipse was meeting with an unknown woman as of late. That woman was always covering her face and hiding the hair so we don't have anything we can use to ID her. We're trying to figure out if she's a remnant of the "Secret Empire"… But it could be someone unrelated." Colonel Talos admitted.

"Huff. More headaches. As if we didn't have enough. And here we thought closing up Virus and all those underlings he controlled would be enough to make things calm down for a while…"

"Yes, sadly enough…"

"Excuse me." Laika knocked on the open door.

"How is it like, Laika – kun?"

"Sir. The "Dimensional Area" gains transparency in some sections every a few tens of minutes as energy shifts from section to section. All buildings over a meter and a half tall are heavily damaged. The stadium has been remodeled into what looks like a POW camp. Troopers equipped with Mk 17 and grenades infest all main roads. They have Panzer tanks with them and Stryker APC. HP analysis suggests 250 HP for main soldiers with rising numbers as the rank goes higher. The armor provides about 10% damage reduction as well. The total amount is unclear but it could hundreds of them, maybe close to a thousand. There are B-52s and MiGs patrolling the skies, too." Laika reported.

"A POW camp! And what's going there?" Everyone gasped.

"Navis are forced to work in building more vehicles for the occupation force. It'd seem they've turned the underground into the prison space per se and Navis who slack get dragged away there. We don't know what happens to them yet. It's like the culprit intends to recreate a war and invasion…" Laika sighed.

"There seem to be several sub-generators stationed in several spots to support a main generator which emits the "Dimensional Area"… Total amount is unclear but it could be between twenty and thirty of them scattered in a radius. Main generator has been placed in a structure towering over the former stadium and it's heavily defended by static machineguns and a smaller "Dimensional Area"…" Search Man detailed next.

"Devil. They're serious." Colonel Talos hissed.

"How many civilian Navis do you think there are?"

"Several thousand at the very least. Maybe ten thousand. Densan City is very populous, after all."

"But maybe if we can make them start a rebellion at once we could topple their numbers…" Enzan suggested.

"Bad idea. They could call in the B-52s and the MiGs and bombard the area. Casualties would be very high. Navis can be rebuilt, yes, but it could take a toll on their Operators nevertheless." Laika warned.

"Yes. People could get angry and come to protest saying that we should've saved them instead of risking it all and having them die for nothing. Even if they get rebuild with no memory of what happened to them… Some Operators might feel like that's a little compensation to the feeling of loss they felt." Lezareno argued.

"Total number of occupies cities is… 50. One per prefecture plus another 3 which are Densan City, Kotobuki Town and Yoka Yoka Village." Yuuichirou finished compiling the map.

"50! That must mean that over a million Navis around the nation are trapped in the Internet… Several tens, even. Our nation has a census of over 120 million habitants. But not all habitants have a Navi."

"It think there's about 70-80 million of them if memory serves."

"But we don't know how many are trapped into those major cities' Internet and how many were in other systems… Maybe we can cut it down to about… 40-50 million? Or maybe less."

"Thinking in big numbers will only make us feel nervous. Let's focus on liberating Densan Internet City first. Once we've got the experience of that one then we can move into the next ones."

"Indeed. One thing at a time."

"Sir! A crime proclamation has emerged…" Meijin came in.

"What's the name?"

"It's "Force 2204"…"

"Force 2204? Sounds like a military designation indeed." Colonel Talos was slightly surprised.

"Any demands?"

"No. The message is this… "This is Force 2204. We have taken 50 Internet Cities under our control."… And that's it."

"So instead of gloating they merely make a statement. At least we know that they answer to that mysterious giant named "General"…"

"We should interrogate Virus. The giant said they'd worked before according to Shadow Man's transmissions, sir." Blues suggested.

"Commissioner Kifune is already on it. But it'd seem Virus is being stubbornly silent and isn't answering anything. They expected the guy to lash out hatred but was pretty composed." Enzan replied.

"And we can't force the man to talk even if he's in prison, either."

"Alright. Let's establish a permanent surveillance on the "DA" of Densan Internet City. We need more field data on it in order to figure out any possible weakness or way of breaking through it."

"Leave Eclipse up to us. From the look of things it'd seem her escape wasn't something planned far on ahead… It looks like something improvised at the last moment. She might've left trails."

"Alright, gentlemen. Please take care of that elusive type."

 _Eclipse, an unknown woman, an unknown giant… Damn it all!_

16:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well, Eclipse… Convinced?"

"Totally. Man. I'd never thought someone could pull off an operation of such scale…!"

"I feel flattered."

"Now, what exactly do you want out of me?"

"No big deal. I just want you to come up with some show to disperse their efforts and forces. Anything will do."

"Fine. By the way… What do you ultimately hope to achieve by taking over the Internet Cities, General?"

"Proving them that their so-called "peace" is but an illusion that can be shattered in mere minutes…"

A woman was standing outside of a two-story house surrounded by tall forest trees somewhere.

She was on her 30s and had brown hair that reached until her shoulders allowing with brown eye irises.

She simply wore a black raincoat which was partly open, a gray wool jumper, jeans, white socks and mountain boots.

She also carried a blue and purple PET with no emblem on her right hand which she was using to talk to someone.

"Did you manage to pull off that plan I entrusted you with?"

"Sure. No hitch. This place you provided is perfectly equipped as well. Down to the last detail…"

"Good. I am the type that always takes care of the details. Even if all that "sex" talk is meaningless to me… I thought that it might be a useful tool to keep those two out of my way… They did prove to be an obstacle that not even Virus was able to handle…" The giant of some hours ago explained to her.

"Yeah. That much I agree with ya."

"It's obvious that reinforcements will eventually come. And amongst them there's THE man… No, not Omega…"

"I know. That Tabuu guy." She fumed.

"But not even he will have it easy to suck away the energy of the "Dimensional Area"… I did prepare some insurances to handle him whenever he shows up."

"By the way… Did you realize that Shadow Man and another two were listening into our talk?"

"Of course I did. But I pretended not to notice them. In that way I was able to trap them inside of the Internet City. But it's a pity that I couldn't trap that backup team… Oh well. Can't be helped."

"Did you seize them?"

"Not yet. They must've hidden in the sewers. But I don't mind. I've got tons of hostages to use as reprisal if they attempt guerilla warfare on me… My men are ruthless and immune to suggestion or bribes. They don't need any money or motivation, either. They serve me. Serving me is what defines their existence. Not unlike serfs. So there's no need to oversee them the whole time, either." The giant shrugged.

"G-gotcha."

"You needn't be concerned. Do as you like. I don't intend to control you or expect you to do as I want. Let's each do whatever we like. I won't get in your way and you don't get in my way."

"Alright."

"I might contact you from time to time to check on things or if I need a favor out of you. Of course, if possible, I will repay those favors in some form or another."

"OK."

"Well then, I'm leaving."

The call ended and Eclipse nervously drew a mint candy which she began to savor as if to calm down: she looked up at the bright sun and cloudless skies for a moment before going inside of the house: she took out her boots and put on a couple of slippers in the entrance hall before heading further in.

"Hey. Miyu. You ready?"

"Yes. It's been a while since I've done this but I think I'll manage somewhat." A woman's voice answered.

Eclipse entered the living room: a woman was waiting in an armchair.

This woman which she named Miyu wore a featureless red cap, sunglasses and wore a lush green scarf over her mouth and below the nose so most of her face was hidden.

Some black hair extended until the neck's base.

She simply wore a black tunic covering her body.

"Good. Give a few mins to get ready, too."

"Understood. I'll put on the TV to see the news."

"OK!"

Eclipse left the room while "Miyu" picked up a TV remote from a nearby table: she wore a long black latex glove over her hand and most of her arm until the elbow: once she'd picked it she turned on the 46-inch LCD TV set on the farthest wall between two windows which looked into some openings in the trees that allowed one to see a prairie beyond the forest: the TV turned on and Midorikawa Kero appeared onscreen as she read the paper set on her desk: a photo of a "Dimensional Area" covering an Internet City was being shown on the upper right corner.

"…a total of 50 cities across the nation…" She was saying.

"50!" Miyu was surprised.

"…name themselves Force 2204…"

"Why 2204?" She wondered.

"…demands yet…"

"I knew that "General" man that Eclipse has teamed up with had taken over "several" cities but I wasn't expecting this number. 50! Incredible. And in an almost simultaneous manner, too…!"

"Situation inside of the cities is unknown. The JSDF has established a 1-kilometer non-incursion zone around every city. It would seem they have suffered a heavy attack and are slowly trying to recover from it as they produce Military Navis to replace their casualties."

"Whoa. Just… whoa."

"Total number of Navis trapped in the cities is unknown but some sources suggest tens of millions of Navis trapped inside."

"T-tens of millions…!"

"Sorry for the wait." Eclipse joined her again: she wore a black tunic identical to the one she had.

"I didn't know that the scale was this big?"

"Scale…? Wha! 50 cities! B-by all the… I didn't know, either! He told me "several" but I thought he meant 4 or 5! Millions caught as well…! This guy is impressive! Makes you wonder why Ryuuhei ended up being the idiot he was if he cooperated with this guy. Guess arrogance." Eclipse was surprised as well.

"Ryuuhei? Who's that?" Miyu asked.

"The man known as Virus Trip Daemon…"

"So his real name is Ryuuhei?"

"Yeah. Hioki Ryuuhei. The guy hates to be called by his real name so I always call him like that to taunt him. The idiot… Betting it all in some robot and got tricked into defeating himself… Now he's rotting in the brig… Had it coming… For making fun of me all those years ago!"

"Not because he was an accomplice of that man named "IQ"?"

"Oh no! I don't care about that. I worked for that IQ as well while spying on Ryuuhei, anyway. It's more like the punishment for making fun of me."

"Guess that. No wonder the police kept so many eyes on you."

"Oh, sure! I was itching to get rid of them but I didn't know how. They're like leeches. Very hard to shake off your skin."

"And when this man approached you this morning you accepted his offer straight away."

"How couldn't I? He's readied everything. This house, disguises, fake passports, fake driving licenses, cars and bikes with falsified plates, the materials, the food…" Eclipse listed.

"Obviously."

"And, above all… Fun. For you and I." She made a smug grin.

"Oh, sure. It'll do well to go back into action. I missed it."

"No doubt you did, my dear. But nevertheless… I wonder why he picked 2204 of all numbers… Maybe because he wanted a plain name that didn't attempt to be "cool"…" Eclipsed wondered.

"Could be. That man seems to be pretty serious."

"Yeah. He's a Navi, no doubt about it, but has a good knowledge of how things work in the real world as well."

"…New information. It would seem that the main culprit is a Net Navi about 3 meters tall who wears a black robe covering his whole body and names himself "General"… No further info is known at the moment. It is advised to anyone who sees or hears about him that they report to the Net Police of the Official Net Battlers immediately."

"Hmpf. As expected. He's going to draw the whole attention to him and that'll allow us to have fun with those handsome guys in the basement. It's been a while, too, since I've seen a handsome guy at my mercy. I'm so going to have fun with this. And you too, Miyu." Eclipse snickered.

"But of course, my dear." Miyu giggled.

"Despite the status of most Internet Cities, the structure of the Internet itself isn't compromised and almost services function normally. 3G and 4G networks are unaffected as well. Yet most banks suffer trouble as they can't oversee the digital accounts and what happens with the money stored there. There can be problems to pay with credit cards or electronic transfers. Please remain calm." Midorikawa reported.

"Hum. That could be troublesome for us, too. Fortunately I've got some metallic on me and that man provided a lot of it too. I guess we're in for some panic. A lot of companies will have trouble operating, too."

"Yes, you're right. But I guess that they'll eventually find a way to free those cities, anyway. Should we get moving? We don't want to keep our handsome guests waiting forever, do we?" Miyu stood up.

"Of course not, Miyu. Let's go."

 _Time for some fun like in the old times… Tee, heh, heh!_


	4. Chapter 4: Resistance

**Chapter 4: Resistance**

00:37 AM (Japan Time), Saturday October the 8th…

"… Well?"

"I've confirmed that Number Man, Ice Man, Guts Man and Glyde are amongst the captured Navis in the camp."

"I see."

"I'm unable to count the whole amount of prisoners but they must be thousands, close to ten thousand…"

"Feared as much."

"How about you two?"

Shadow Man met up with Red Sword and Cosmo Man in the shelter below Internet City to report what he'd figured out.

"We managed to sabotage a total of 6 sub-generators and we noticed a strength loss of about 10% to the Dimensional Area… The JSDF troops outside noticed that and tried ramming a tank into the weakened area but was unable to break through…" Red Sword reported.

"There are a total of 30 and they handle 50% of the Dimensional Area's energy… About 1.67% each. The main generator takes care of the remaining 50%. And about 10% of this output is used for the smaller DA protecting the main generator." Cosmo Man detailed.

"I see. I managed to capture an enemy and extracted data from them but I didn't gain anything I hadn't grasped before. They all have a serial number 7 digits long… So that gives them 282475249 possible combinations. Over 280 million numbers. More than enough to allow for each unit to have an individual number without risk of the number happening twice." Shadow Man told them.

"What about the other front?" Red Sword asked.

"I found another 4 Navis. That makes up 9 Navis who'd managed to stay hidden in back-alleys and in collapsed buildings. One of them was a JSDF Navy off-duty. Came in handy to instruct the others. But we can't keep on betting on this forever. I'm sure that the chances of finding Navis who avoided capture are getting lower and lower as time passes."

"Yeah. Hard to believe it's already been over 36 hours and we're still trapped here…" Cosmo Man sighed.

"They're going to intensify watch on the sub-generators. But they can't seem to be able to spawn more numbers than the already existing numbers so they'll have to relocate some troops from the patrols or from the labor camp."

"Did you figure out if they execute Navis who attempt to rebel?"

"Insofar they don't have seem to but they torture them with electricity imitating Revolver Ocelot from the _Metal Gear Solid_ game. They keep them electrified for hours on end but the thing is set up so that their HP drain rate is very, very slow and it doesn't end until it hits the 1 HP mark. What a bunch of sadists. Almost like a real war!" Shadow Man grumbled as he reported.

"Totally. I wouldn't have minded it much if they deleted them because they'll easily be rebuilt afterwards but it'd seem like they intend to demoralize all Navis."

"Even with our small "Resistance" there's not much we can do. We'll have to be like guerillas by picking up small packs and silently eliminating them to slowly reduce their numbers. But something tells me that if we overdo it then the prisoners will be made to suffer. Or they could just bombard the ground to cause the sewers to cave-in."

"You're right. We must've pulled off about 30 assassinations between the three of us and some of the "Resistance" but there's still over 900 of them out there at the least." Red Sword sighed.

"And they'll obviously go on improving the sub-generators' defenses so that it becomes harder to sabotage them."

"Huh? Chut! I hear something from the surface… Sirens?"

"Go check it out." Red Sword told him.

"Roger…"

Shadow Man exited the refuge and ran down a tunnel until the ladder leading to the surface: he climbed it up and before opening the hatch he seemingly scanned the surface: he slowly opened it up and emerged into a back-alley: sirens rang out across the occupied city.

 _What's going on?_

He silently crawled across the ground until the corner and risked a quick glance at one of the streets leading to a main avenue: he saw a Panzer tank rolling down the avenue away from the labor camp and slowly rotating its turret: spotlights set on the rooftops on in the remains of destroyed buildings were scanning the streets: a group of about 20 enemy soldiers rushed down the avenue in formation.

"What's this?" One asked the other.

"Intruders!"

"How?"

"It'd seem that the dome actually allows for Plug-In. Purposely."

"Purposely? Ah, I see. So that we gain more labor force?"

"I guess that. I supposed the JSDF are so desperate to know what's going that they've sent a scout team inside the dome once they found out that it allows them to."

"What are our orders?"

"To catch them alive and send them to the camp. Orders from the Colonel, of course."

"Finally, a real battle!"

"Yeah! The tank is just in case. Standard protocol dictates soldier-to-soldier firefight."

"Heh, heh. Good, good!"

 _I see. That's all I needed to know. Let's go back._

He silently crawled backwards and checked his surroundings twice before opening the hatch and returning to the sewers: he heard footsteps and gripped the hilt of his Muramasa blade.

"Shadow Man? It's me, Corporal Takeda."

"Ah. Corporal."

A Navi shaped after a JSDF soldier came into sight as he carried a flashlight on his right hand: Shadow Man stopped gripping the hilt.

"What's going on up there?"

"The dome actually allows for Plug-In. And the JSDF have apparently sent a recon team to try to gain information on what's going on. I guess that they're instantly detected and thus those sirens notify all troops across the whole city." Shadow Man explained.

"I see."

"It'd seem that they'll attempt to capture them and add them to the exiting labor force. That's the reason why Plug-Ins are intentionally allowed."

"Hum. Alright. I'll return to the shelter and continue with the civilians' training. They're getting used to the cache Battle Chips but they still lack the grasp of the timing. Can't be helped. But it's some progress at the very least." Takeda reported.

"Excellent. But the whole city is in alert. Any strike tonight is risky. Let's wait some hours for things to calm down."

"I agree. Later."

"Later."

Both parted ways and Shadow Man returned to the shelter where Red Sword and Cosmo Man were at, going over a 3D map of the Internet City and adding some red dots at some points near the perimeter.

"You heard my transmission, right?"

"Of course."

"Here we're trying to calculate the distribution of the sub-generators. There seem to be 3 "rings" of them each having 10 machines. And they're separated by a gap of 250 meters each. Each machine is approximately the same distance from each other. Like we've seen, quarters for the garrisons are being built right next to each and the buildings that contain them are being sealed to impede access." Cosmo Man detailed.

"Good. What about the signal interceptor?"

"I'm making progress. But I'm afraid it'll only catch low-key non-encrypted transmissions like the ones troops near each other use. But better that than nothing." Red Sword replied.

"Indeed… The ideal would be that some of the recon party members manage to run and hide so that we could add them our "Resistance" and gain some insight into the enemies' actual firepower and tactics. But I'm afraid things won't go so easily."

"Obviously."

"Hmmm? I feel something roaming out there… Silence. Let's listen in… Make no noise!" Shadow Man suddenly whispered.

The group remained silent as they heard the slight sound of someone walking down and what seemed to be humming which echoed in the tunnel.

 _Humming? It's none of the "Resistance"… And it's not the enemy, either… Who could it be, then? Viruses don't hum._

"… Huff. I'm stuck down here… Yeah, there's water and all but… I can't build stuff… Puku… I miss my workshop… Puku… But I don't want to end up like the others, puku… So I gotta hide here, puku… Let's go to the main cave again and try to nap, puku…" Bubble Man was muttering aloud on the outside.

 _Ah. I had the feeling I was missing someone. If it's just this inept then we can be at ease. But I'll warn Takeda to not to attempt to recruit this man. Feels like he'd betray us if they promise him safety._

"… He's jumped into the water. Phew." Red Sword sighed in relief.

"Huff. Fortunately enough it was just that brat."

"Yeah. I'll warn Takeda to ignore this guy as well. Let's resume the mapping…" Shadow Man suggested.

"Of course. So. We know the locations of 6 of them, 2 of each ring. If we apply the 250 meter rule then we can get the approximate location of all adjacent generators of each ring…"

"And their garrisons… They're usually about 10 to 15 strong and have static machineguns with them. And as a last resource they store RPG-7s as well. So we can't take them lightly either." Cosmo Man added.

 _My Master… I am sorry that I cannot be at your side, sir. But my loyalty hasn't changed. I will return to your side, My Master!_

08:17 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Fua~h…"

"I'm surprised you can sleep at all."

"Huh? Ah! Saito – niisan… Don't tell me that…?"

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep. At all."

"I understand that you're worried about Guts Man and the others but… It's not like we can do anything about it, is it?"

"I know! I know that! And nevertheless…! I feel like I betrayed them! That I let them down!"

"Let them down, huh…"

Netto stretched and woke up on his bedroom's bed: he wore cyan-colored pajamas and he heard a voice from a bit ahead: he spotted Saito sitting on an office chair while leaning both arms on the support: he wore black pajamas and looked like he hadn't slept at all: Netto got worried and Saito hissed in frustration.

"Say…"

"What." He now looked annoyed.

"Eh… Remember about… Him?"

"Him?"

"Him… Well… Hoshikawa."

"Ah. Hoshikawa – kun? Yeah, I do. What about him?"

"Remember what Blood told us? That people began to call him a "hero"… But one day his friends got dragged into a weird portal… And he could only rescue one of them… The others ended up in unknown whereabouts… And how he felt like he was no "hero" anymore… That he'd let everyone down… He disillusioned the others… And how the weight of that left him unable to react, unable to take action… He felt like he couldn't be relied on… He was afraid of the expectations placed on him." Netto told him.

"… Now that you mention it…" Saito began to see Netto's point.

"Well. You're behaving like him. That's my point."

"Yeah… You're right. You and I… They called us "heroes"… Back in those days… The WWW… The Professor… And Gospel… In a sense… We might've let the others down after that… I mean, we got involved in a lot of stuff and such but…" Saito sighed.

"And remember what Hoshikawa's father had once said and which Blood also told us? "I'm not afraid of failures. The most important thing is… to prove one's courage."…And, also… "Even if I fail… The courage I demonstrated will surely encourage someone else to keep on. And even if that someone else fails as well, they'll encourage yet another someone. People are linked together by courage. And the resulting bond creates an incredible power…"… Which is why his father created that "Brother Band" system to link people together…"

"… I see. Yeah. You're right… It's just that… That I let the "expectations" get a hold of me… To stop me from rationally thinking…"

"I had the feeling. You looked so distant yesterday at school and during the rest of the day… You barely said anything… That was because you were depressed, right?"

"Yeah. This feeling of powerlessness… Even if I had you right next to me… I didn't feel like admitting to it… Because I didn't want to appeal as weak in front of you…"

"Did you think that it would make me feel weak and get depressed as well? I thought we know each other inside out by now, Saito – niisan. I'm very hot-blooded, you know." Netto grinned.

"Yeah. You're right. I'll try to sleep at least a couple of hours… But before that… The latest info… Plug-In into the cities is possible."

"What!"

"Intentionally. It's not an oversight. A JSDF recon platoon 50 strong went in and managed to damage some sub-generators enough to allow for a low-bandwidth radio signal to come out with some reports about the status inside of the city… Contact was cut afterwards. We don't know what's become of them but it's speculated that they were added to the labor force in the labor camp. There seem to be several tens of sub-generators like Search Man had spotted."

"I see. The enemy is trying to lure "rescuers" in."

"Yeah. It's another reason why I couldn't sleep. I was plagued by the temptation to go in and try to help them. Even I was turned into a slave right after I stepped in… I could be there with them, I could try to support them. But then you would be lonely. And I didn't want you to suffer that. So in the end I fought off the temptation."

"Thank you, niisan…"

"It's nothing. It's the least I could for you or Papa or Mama…"

"What about the others?"

"I rang up the others' Navis… And they're with them. They also were strongly tempted to go in but… They didn't want to be away from their Operators. Especially Delta and Raf… No wonder, after what happened in August…"

"I see. So the enemy is trying to exploit the urge to try to rescue those you care about."

"Yeah. Oh well. I need some sleep. Will you tell Mama about it?"

"Of course. She'll understand."

"Thank you. Fua~h…"

Saito climbed into his bed and immediately fell asleep while looking like he'd shaken his doubts off: Netto half-smiled and left the room to head downstairs: Yuuichirou was drinking a cup of hot chocolate and he'd grown some stubble: he also looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep either.

"Eh… Morning, Papa."

"Huh? Ah. Good morning, Netto. Did Saito finally sleep?"

"You knew that he didn't sleep?" He was surprised.

"Yeah. I woke up every then and then during the night and I came out the bedroom to have some air: and since your door was slightly open I could see Saito who was having the same trouble. I didn't say anything because he looked very concentrated… And before you tell me… Meijin already updated me."

"Gotcha. Well, yeah. He was worried about expectations."

"I see. I figured he would be. He's grown up to be very serious in most aspects but he feels the "expectations" haunting him. Not only him, of course… Our society, sadly enough, relies too much on those and that puts up too much pressure on people…" He sighed.

"I know." Netto began to pour some orange juice from a carton he picked from the fridge into a glass.

"At least only the JSDF has dared to go in insofar. But word has spread of that… And as result we've had to enforce a ban on civilian Plug-In frequencies to avoid anyone trying to go in… And to top it off the opposition party is saying that the government is robbing citizens' rights… Oh come on! It's an emergency state!" Yuuichirou fumed.

"I know the role of an opposition party is to criticize the mistakes by the current government, but… They should realize this is hardly the time to start bickering amongst us. Because that's exactly what the culprit's aiming for, right?"

"Of course! Huff. Sorry to have dragged you into my ramblings. But I had to let it out."

"I understand. So? What's the plan today?"

"We're trying to finish building a Cyber Train."

"What for?"

"To ram it against the Dimensional Area and use its speed, mass, and kinetic energy to overload most of the sub-generators and weaken it enough to break through… We hope to finish it by tomorrow. It's a risky bet but there's not much we can do at the moment. Even if we shut down the Internet City servers they'll suck off energy from the rest of the Internet… And the DA doesn't rely on those servers, anyway." He explained to Netto.

"I see. What about Forte and Serenade?"

"They're with that Urakawa boy at Yoka Yoka Village. Serenade foresaw an attempt at impairing communications and readied an escape route to the real world. And just in time. The Reverse Internet has been totally cut off the surface Internet. It's back to its initial, isolated state."

"Wow. Serenade sure has a strong ability to detect things in advance."

"Guess that. In fact the idea of the train came from Forte. He thought that we needed a battering ram to break in. Gospel Jr. is too small for that, unfortunately, so we thought of making a train instead. The more speed it can accelerate to the more kinetic energy it'll have."

"Good."

"But it's not guaranteed to success. Yet it could force them to spend time and labor into improving them. It would seem there exists a very small "Resistance" in the city so maybe they could use the opening to try to sabotage the main generator and thus weaken it enough to be able to shatter it." Yuuichirou warned.

"Better that than sit and do nothing."

"Indeed."

"Oh dear. You're already awake?" Haruka came down.

"Yeah. By the way, Haruka… Saito didn't properly sleep so he's now resting. Let's try to avoid loud noises."

"Oh dear. This crisis must be affecting him as well… Fortunately enough it'd seem that most banks kept backups of the accounts on their servers and such most people have kept their savings there…"

"Yeah. That was an idea we designed and was turned into a law so that all banks would implement it. Never put too many eggs in a single basket. That's why backups exist to begin with." Yuuichirou admitted.

"As expected of Yuuichirou – san!"

"Oh, don't say it like I'm a genius… I'm not. Do you want some bread with strawberry jam?" He offered.

"Delighted!"

Haruka sat on the table: Netto was having bread with salami along with orange juice as breakfast: Yuuichirou's dish had some remaining bread crumps since he'd already had breakfast and was now reading Haruka's breakfast while humming a song: Netto calmly looked outside at the sun bathing the garden.

 _Ironic, huh? It's so bright here yet it feels like it saddens you instead of cheering you up… Hang on, guys! We're coming to help you!_

08:38 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Any idea of what day is it today, Akira?"

"Nope, Shun – kun. I lost all perception of time. It could Saturday but it could still be Friday for all we know."

"I know."

Obihiro Shun (about 13 years old) was talking to someone else as he lied face-up atop the lower bed of a bunk bed set inside of a darkened room somewhere.

He had some black leather cylinders closed around his forearms and that they had a small metallic U-shaped extension 1 or 2 cm long that protruded from the lower face.

His ankles had two identical pieces as well.

He had a thin black leather collar closed around his neck with a small padlock as well.

But, apart from those, he was butt naked.

"Any ideas that we haven't gone over a hundred times?"

"Nope. Sorry, Shun – kun."

The other guy on the bed above had purplish hair which formed some flocks over his forehead and green eye irises.

He had the same gear as Obihiro on his body, too.

"So this must be what Hikari – kun and the others experienced when Virus caught them… We get raped by those women thrice a day and the only meals are convenience store sandwiches and pet bottles of water… And it'd seem some rascal has managed to capture and seal 50 Internet Cities across the nation…"

"I still can't believe it. One or two I can understand but… 50? How can he control all of them at the same time?"

"Dunno. And I don't think those two intend to tell us." Obihiro grumbled, annoyed.

"Something tells me that there's more to that Miyu woman. Don't you get the feeling? Or am I being paranoid?"

"Could be. Not like we've seen either of them insofar because they blindfold us… It could be your imagination, anyway."

"I know. They stuff drugs into the food and water to knock us out and then they drag us to the torture room to tie us up and then begin to sexually torture us with BDSM." Akira sighed.

"Yeah… Not like we weren't used to BDSM, though. But when you did it on me you tried not to harm me too much. I still can't believe you did it in yourself…"

"I wanted to know what it felt like before using it into you, my lovely Shun – kun." He calmly replied.

"Huff. Fine, fine."

"Did I offend you?" Akira looked over the edge at Obihiro.

"No. It's just this frustration that I can't shake off."

"Can't be helped, can it? Insofar we were able to help the others with our skills but now we're trapped here and we can't do anything to help the others… But at least we're together, no? Better this than be alone and have no-one to talk to, I'd say. And we can still love each other if we feel bored, no?" Akira argued.

"Well… I guess you've got a point."

"Don't I?"

"I see you feel energetic today… Let's see if your bodies prove that in the next session…" Eclipse's voice rang out from close by.

There was a sound and a small square slit a few centimeters tall and wide opened near ground level at the north of the room: some light poured in as a couple of plastic trays having pet bottles of water and convenience store sandwiches on each were pushed inside before the slit quickly closed.

"Hey! At least tell us what day is it today!" Obihiro demanded.

"Well, why not? Unlike that Ryuuhei idiot I've got other tactics to make you wield… It's Saturday. This is your 3rd day here."

"Saturday already!" Akira muttered.

"Thought as much."

"As expected of the genius who founded Gospel." Eclipse sneered behind the door to provoke him.

"Huh? Did you say something? I was cleansing my ears." Obihiro didn't' fall for the provocation.

"Hmpf. Good, good. Else it wouldn't be fun. That's what I did when I was in the "Palace"… I used this on both the women and men I was in charge of training into perfect slaves… Oh the despair… It was so juicy. And yet that stupid Ryuuhei only though of using brute force. Hah! Anaya greatly overestimated him. I guess she's already forgotten about that idiot. Serves him well!" She gloated.

"Like I give a crap for that." Obihiro shot back.

"My, my. And here I was offering you some chit-chat before the session… You're so ungrateful, really! By the way, when's the marriage?" She giggled.

"M-marriage…!" Obihiro blushed.

"None of your business." Akira calmly shot back.

"I guess it'll be whenever _Detective Conan_ ends."

"How funny."

"I guess that the BO's boss is actually old man Agasa!"

"That's an urban legend and Mr. Aoyama denied it. Stop making fun of us and go stare at the mirror."

"You're too young, kids… Too young to handle someone who's seen a good bunch of life… And the hypocrisy of society… Plus a murderer named Gospel Shuuryou…" She sneered.

"Kuh…! Guh…! I… didn't… do that… I didn't… kill anyone…! It's all… that old man's… LEAVE ME ALONE~!" Obihiro suddenly turned furious and closed both fists.

There were hurried footsteps getting away: he panted and tried to recover while Akira jumped down from above and sat to his right while placing his left arm around his back: Obihiro began to shudder next.

"Calm down, Shun – kun! I'm here! This is the real world!"

"… You're right… It's just that…"

"I know it's a trauma. I'm not saying you can block it, but… If we allow that woman to control us then we're admitting our defeat."

"I know…! It's just that… that… Damn it!"

"There. Calm down. I'm here to support you."

"Thanks, Akira… Leave me for a min. I need to go the toilet."

Obihiro stood up and sighed before walking south: there was the sound of a door closing: Akira sighed and glanced at the trays: he picked the sandwich and began to open the plastic wrapping.

 _Poor Shun – kun. He's suffered so much… Between the deaths of his parents, his gradual self-reclusion, and being brainwashed by Wily into running "Gospel"… And let's not forget what happened back then… Wily placed a trauma on him that comes to haunt him from time to time. What a moron! And to think he also picked that Colonel Navi who belongs to that Barrel guy and removed the "kindness" from him to make of him a battling machine… He made of that program a new Navi, a girl named Iris…_

He finished unwrapping the sandwich and began to munch it.

 _Which he used to control weapons… To operate them from inside… Until Mr. Zataki assaulted Wily some months after the collapse of "Gospel" and brought him down… Barrel's been taking care of her insofar. I seem to recall that she entrusted her to an aunt of him who wanted some company… And has been living with her insofar, I think… Away from war and death… That old man was really mad. Trying to make of her a child soldier…!_

"I'm done." Obihiro returned.

"OK. I'll go do stuff next."

"Now I realize I'm hungry… Huff."

"Well, it's obvious we'd be."

"Yeah, I know… Not like I tend to eat much at home, either..."

Akira nodded and finished up his sandwich: he drank some water from the pet bottle and then headed for the toilet while Obihiro began to eat his without too much appetite.

 _I hope that Hikari – kun and the others' Navis didn't get trapped in any of the Internet Cities… I'm sure they must be trying to find a way to free them and find us at the same time… The "Committee" must be searching everywhere, too… But maybe this time around… It's beyond their capability… Maybe… We've really lost the game… Maybe we should just give up and become sex addicts…_

"… I'm back. You look like you've got something in mind. Let me guess… You think that it's pointless to resist. Right?" Akira came back and guessed what Obiho was thinking of.

"… Yeah. What's the point? We lost already."

"No! We haven't! What proof do you have of it, Shun – kun? Remember how in the previous crises we struggled to find them and we found them in the end! I know that the August one we got the location leaked to us but in the first one we were able to figure it out! Didn't we?" Akira reminded him.

"Well… Guess… that… It's just that… It's easy to lose hope here."

"I know. But if we lose hope then it's all over."

"All over, huh? Maybe it's just the beginning of a world without pain… A world where you feel pleasure at being fucked…"

SLAP!

"Ouch!"

"Snap out of it, Shun – kun! This is the enemy's trap! Show some courage, will you? Some respect to your friends!"

Akira slapped Obihiro's right cheek to make him snap out of it: Obihiro placed his right hand over it but didn't complain: his eyes watered but he wiped the building up water with his right arm as Akira wrapped his left arm around his shoulders again.

"Don't worry. It'll be OK. I'm here to help you. You mustn't lose faith!"

 _Let's not despair! Let's keep up hope! We'll get out of this, somehow!_


	5. Chapter 5: Hope

**Chapter 5: Hope**

01:21 AM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 9th…

"… But, really… I didn't expect you to be hiding in that cold storage warehouse in Grid 3!"

"It was pure instinct, man. I thought that things looked bad so I sought a comfortable place to hide at… And I found that! The entrance got blocked by some furniture that fell off from the building in front, though. And I was stuck there until you found me!"

"Good. At least we've got another Navi with potential. And the other group gained 10 members of the recon force… So we've made some gains… The recon force managed to bring down several of them as well. Let's go over the situation."

"Of course."

Blizzard Man had joined the "Resistance" members and they looked in a better mood as they looked at the 3D map: there were some red "X" placed at some spots in three circles of ten spots each.

"It'd seem that they're still hesitating about whether they should allocate labor force to repair these or not… The recon force was able to take down about 11 of them. Combined with our efforts we took out another 5… So they've lost 16 sub-generators which means a decrease of over 25% of the DA's energy… That should help efforts from the outside to break through. Problem will be when they do. Those rascals might attempt to use the Navis as shields." Red Sword briefed.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. I saw them beating up several Navis as retaliation for the sabotages but insofar they seem to be in a rush to finish the new B-52s to then start a general bombing across all the city to try to destroy any buildings that can be used as a hideout. There might be over 900 troopers but this city is huge. They'd have to allocate a lot of hours to searching every building's floor and alleys. And if they try to allocate a lot of troopers to that the Navis in the labor camp might see a chance to start a rebellion and fight back." Blizzard Man agreed.

"Insofar they've begun to place Voltic Eyes on the side-alleys to catch anyone trying to go through them. But it doesn't matter that much since we've got the sensors." Shadow Man shrugged.

"Hum. But we mustn't get confident either. We don't know how much time we have until that bombing campaign and we don't know if the real goal is to cause a cave-in of the sewers." Cosmo Man warned.

"Good point. Yet… Why wait so long? They've already got 8 B-52s on the air constantly patrolling the skies along with about 50 MiGs… They could bomb anytime and yet…" Red Sword wondered.

"Maybe it's an attempt at psychological warfare. Give us a tiny bit of "hope" to then crush it in instants." Shadow Man suggested.

"Could be. We don't know much about the opponent, either. The colonel in charge of this force probably has a means to get into contact with the giant but problem will be getting close. He must be heavily defended by high-rank troopers."

"And will probably run away if trouble shows up. But there'll still be another 49 of them across the nation. So maybe sooner or later one will be caught. But that's getting too far ahead. Let's focus on our situation… By the way, Blizzard… Do you think that that Bubble Man guy could be hired by them to scout the sewers?" Red Sword asked.

"Dunno… I think the guy is more loyal to old man Wily than anything else… It's on the guy's programming, anyway. But he's a greedy jerk, too… Maybe they can bribe the guy with some money… We'd have to find a way to figure it out..." Blizzard Man shrugged.

"I can take care of that. I'll sneak on the man, knock them out and read their memory files." Shadow Man offered.

"Good. It won't hurt to make it clear in whose side that guy is. Seeing the rate the B-52s are being built at… They might be ready between today and tomorrow. We don't have much time… Maybe we should ready a strike to go hit another bunch of sub-generators… We've seen that the garrisons can be easily overwhelmed if we attack in a coordinated manner and take out their main weapons." Red Sword suggested a course of action.

"Let's not get confident either. They could be using Claymore mines to make up for the lack of garrisons."

"Good point. We should scan the terrain with IR before moving in."

"The sub-generators' buildings are easily broken in, anyway."

"Yeah. Their walls are only about 5cm thick. It's obvious that they were designed simple to allow for multiple copies to be made at once with little time…"

"Shadow Man? This is Takeda. Come in."

"Takeda. How are things proceeding?"

"Thanks to my fellows from the recon force we've managed to train the civilian Navis in a speedy manner. Insofar the only thing we've found out by interrogating the enemy is that they're not a mercenary force but a troop built by that "General" guy whoever he is. None have seen his real look, it'd seem." Takeda reported.

"We thought as much."

"These guys don't know what happens in other Internet Cities since they can't transmit outside the DA either. And they can't come out either. They will be stationed here until they're captured or deleted. When questioned about where they came from they didn't know much, either. It'd seem that they all activated simultaneously when the B-52s were warped into the cities' space. Memory files analysis confirms that."

"Hum. Our man is being careful… But were that to be the case… Then maybe there's something left in the programming of the B-52s that would allow us to figure out where they came from. But I'm not expecting much from that. If the man can do things in such a coordinated and efficient manner he can make sure not to leave any data that would reveal his hideout…"

"I agree. Oh, well. According to my fellows, the JSDF is planning a large strike force to begin causing some turmoil from the inside while the Science Labs finish a weapon to be able to break in from the outside. That's expected to happen between today and tomorrow."

"Good. I figured that there would be a follow-up to the recon force. Is the enemy aware of that?"

"So it'd seem. That's why they're trying to speed up the building of the B-52s. It'd seem that a message from the "General" warned them to expect that to happen, too."

"No wonder. Maybe there are info leaks out there."

"Or maybe he's spying into the Science Labs or the JSDF."

"Fine. Any idea of how big that strike force will be?"

"No. Apparently it's supposed to be least a hundred strong but the numbers might be increased once they finish analyzing the recon force's reports."

"Hum. I see. Well then, maybe we should move in and blow up some more sub-generators. That should make it easier for the Science Labs' weapon to break through." Shadow Man suggested.

"Was about to suggest you the same thing. I think that we could do it at 4AM. More than enough time to do scouting and confirm the status of things… And see if they've begun to mine the roads. What I've noticed is that they've placed the Killer Eyes there and there but they're moving into securing roofs and tall buildings' remains."

"Hum. I thought that they'd eventually do that. It's going to be hard to move discreetly now… But maybe we could alter those Killer Eyes to feed them fake information…"

"Sure. I've got experience handling those. It's part of our training, anyway. We could set up our own Killer Eyes that copy their frequencies and encoding…"

"Good. Start working on that, we'll need them to be able to step outside in the first place."

"Leave it to me. Takeda, out."

"I agree with the fake Killer Eyes. And we should try to seize a rooftop or two as well." Red Sword looked up from the map.

"Hmpf. Use their tool against them… Excellent." Cosmo Man was amused at the suggestion.

"Let's be wary of Claymores in the main roads, too. They could've decided to set them up to reduce the number of necessary patrol troopers. I did hear them grumbling about that." Blizzard Man warned.

"Good point. Well, I know that this city is in perpetual nighttime so the hour we strike at doesn't make much of a difference but it's our style. They'll soon regret having underestimated us."

"Indeed…" Shadow Man chuckled.

"But I miss some crazy humor now. Oh well. I can always boot up my memory files and search for some." Blizzard Man sighed.

"Maybe I should get in the move and find Bubble Man to figure out if he's become their spy or not. I'll be back soon."

"Good hunting."

"Thanks."

Shadow Man came out of the shelter and drew a black robe which he clad and pulled down the hood to be able to blend into the gray ambience of the tunnels: he began to run north until a nearby intersection and he went left next.

 _The other day he said he wanted to be at the main cave. Maybe he's set up his living space there._

He jumped across the channels and made his way across several tunnels until he reached a large, round cavern: several pipes were set in the ceiling and that was from where residual water came in: there were several catwalks linked between them that circled the perimeter and climbed up until the ceiling and which were used to do inspection on the pipes themselves.

 _These sewers were built to emulate real-world cities' one but since we don't need water to do anything they're intended as an emergency shelter in case something happened in the surface… When the weather is set to rain then the waters fall through these pipes into the sewers and began to make a large closed loop… Now, where's our man?_

He began to search the catwalks and found a spot where there was a beach towel decorated with Bubble Man's face and some tools plus a toolbox set atop it: a half-built metallic ball was also there.

 _Hum. Maybe he's gone to swim. I will wait here. He'll eventually come back to finish the job, I guess. What's he building, anyway? "Ultimate Bubble Bomb"… Hmpf. Another scam to sell, huh?_

"I found our man's living spot but he isn't here yet. I'll lay low."

"Good. Let's get to the bottom of things!"

09:12 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huff."

"Huff!"

"Huff…"

"Come on, guys! Try to show some energies!"

"That's it. Show some strength!"

"Yeah. Getting depressed won't solve anything, you know?"

"Can't be helped. They're worried. I know this feeling."

"Yeah… Feels like a repeat of the summer…"

Yaito, Dekao and Hikawa were sitting in a bench in the Akihara park center: Netto, Saito, Meiru, Akashi and Tomono were trying to cheer them up but without too much success.

"I get scolded by papa and now Glyde is gone… What a week."

"I do my homework and all but Guts Man won't come back!"

"If only I'd told him to stay at the school…"

"No use crying over spilled milk, guys." Netto insisted.

"Hi, guys. Been a while."

"Huh? Ah! Zarashe! Been a while, yeah."

"Is Beta X with you?"

"Yeah. Fortunately enough I happened to be at the school at that time but some of my classmates weren't."

A guy named Zarashe walked up to the group.

He was about a couple inches taller than Akashi, had black messy hair and green eye irises.

He wore a navy blue coat, a blue wool sweater, jeans, white socks and sneakers.

His PET was colored golden and blue while having a golden Alphabet "X" letter as emblem.

"So… Things in Kyoto are the same as here?"

"Yeah. A lot of depressed people there and there… Right, Beta?"

"Yeah… Rumors of Navis going in despite knowing that won't change anything are spreading… Before the civilian Plug-In frequencies were blocked, of course…"

Beta X, Zarashe's Navi, projected with the hologram.

He appealed as being over a meter and sixty tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and spanning through the middle of the helmet: a red pyramidal jewel aiming downwards (similar to Omega's) had been set directly above his nose.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at.

A golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The rest of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.

"But we've got a piece of news… We already told the "Committee" but… A giant in a black robe and hood has been witnessed from time to time in Kyoto's Imperial Palace Gardens." Zarashe told them.

"So the culprit is in Kyoto? Hum. I see." Netto was slightly surprised.

"The police have begun to watch the area but they haven't caught sight of him yet… Insofar he's been spotted by joggers who run around the perimeter at early morning…"

"And, of course, a lot of speculation is going regarding the "Force 2204"… Some believe that they're Galactic Empire Stormtroopers, others say they're Chinese, others say they're North Korean… Some dare to say they're related to those Middle East terrorists… But the Net Police has shot all of them down and say it's a force the culprit has built up himself and they're unrelated to any nation."

"Obviously."

"Huh? 2204… Say… I feel like I've read that somewhere before. Where was it? Do you remember, Roll?" Meiru frowned.

"Well… I'd need to run a search on my memory files… Maybe it was in a Math lesson?"

"Hmmm… Could be, yet… I feel like it's related to something else."

"Does anything happen on the 22nd of April?" Akashi wondered.

"We could look it up." Delta suggested.

"Huff. There's a lot of stuff." Rafael whistled in surprise.

"Yeah. There's over 35 events listed up. A lot of them being 19th and 20th century stuff with a few things from the 16th and 17th century…" Delta looked at the list.

"Anything related to Japan?"

"Hmmm… Only a couple of things… In 1930 Japan and other countries signed the London Naval Treaty… And, more recently, in 2005, PM Koizumi Junichirou apologized for Japan's war record."

"Maybe it's intended to be a mockery aimed at that event?" Tomono wondered.

"Hard to say… Maybe it's not related to the 22nd of April to begin with and it's got another meaning… "Ni-ni-rei-shi"… "Fu-fu-rei-shi"…" Delta tried syllabary combinations with the numbers.

"By the way… Anything new regarding Eclipse and her accomplice? Did they find any trail or hints?" Zarashe asked.

"There were tons of them. And insofar all have turned out to be dead ends since they ended up at some cut-out that was given a message. The message is the same the whole time: "you – SUCK"… The "Committee" is starting to get exasperated. Virus won't talk either. They tried interrogating Alive Cell and Keitai Denwa too but they were out of contact with Virus for some years so they don't know all of the business he's been involved into." Saito sighed as he explained.

"Virus' silence is strange. Eclipse humiliated him, no? Why would he shut up and allow Eclipse to do as she pleases?"

"Maybe he's actually afraid of the giant. Maybe he betrayed him and thought he'd gotten rid of him but hearing word of the giant has made him forget about his hatred. Maybe he fears that the giant will come have payback if he lets out any hint about the giant's assets." Meiru suggested while rubbing her chin.

"Good point. We don't know what kind of relationship those two had, anyway. We only know that the giant admitted having worked with Virus for some time but that's all. And he surely said it aloud on purpose."

"Yeah. To put pressure on Virus, I guess."

"What about the "Secret Empire" leftovers?"

"They don't know anything, either. We know the giant is a Navi who can materialize but he manages to move around undetected… Maybe he uses backdoors and secret routes… Or can camouflage himself by moving through wireless networks…" Netto sighed.

"I guess that. But he's most likely using "Dimensional Converters" to move around from point to point, too."

"Now, ladies and gentlemen… A genius arrives to save the autumn! De masu! Ta-dan! Ecological fan! When the heating inside a building is too high then use it! De masu!"

"Tee, heh, heh. My grand idea lives on!"

"What part of that is supposed to be a "grand idea", anyway?"

Higure suddenly showed up with a fan made of wood and having a metal bar behind it to action it: Yaito grinned and got in a mood to boast all of a sudden while Dekao and Hikawa rolled their eyes, hardly impressed.

"But it's so impractical to begin with! You need someone to spin the bar from behind, don't you?" Meiru sighed.

"No need to! De masu! Just put in the fighting spirit and it'll move by the force of one's will! De masu!"

"Yeah. Sure. Like it'll do." Number Man grumbled, annoyed.

"And the secret to this is… Magical wood from Hokkaido! De masu!"

"Magical wood? Oh come on." The twins sighed.

"But before all of that… Behold! The return of Yuuyami Koutarou, defending samurai of Akihara Village! Where are the fiends? Let them come! My _katana_ shall send them back to their world!" He suddenly pulled out a worn down rice hat and a cloak from a bag and put them on while making a pose like he had a blade on his hands.

"Well. At least we've got someone who hasn't lost hope here! Let's hear to the heroic exploits of Yuuyami – sama! Tee, heh, heh!"

"Heroic? Sure, sure. Like they'll ever be. Yamitarou, you moron!"

 _Gags asides… I feel like we're a step closer to hope… We mustn't falter!_

10:20 AM (Japan Time)…

"… My, my. It'd seem you've still got some guts to resist my arts, eh, Akira – chan? Whatever. Else it wouldn't be fun."

"Let me have a bit after I'm done with Gray – chan, Eclipse. Gray – chan here isn't bothering to fight back and it's getting dull."

"Maybe we need to use a clover."

"A clover? What do you mean, Eclipse?"

Eclipse and Miyu were inside of a wide basement room and talking.

Both wore a one-piece black leather suit which ended slightly above the breasts thus making their shape stand out: they also sported large black leather gloves and black heeled boots.

Each had a black 5cm strap-on filled with spots geared as well.

Obihiro and Akira were tied to X-shaped black wood crosses set together so that each would be looking to one wall: they had black wool blindfolds and red ball gags muffling their mouths.

Metallic pegs were clipped to their nipples and linked together by a thin chain which had a small weight attached to the center of it: the weight pulled the pegs downwards.

Their cocks had a set of four black leather bands that emerged from a small collar tightly closed around the base of their cocks: another found bands climbed up the sides of each guy's cock and subjected a black silicon urethra vibrator buzzing and spinning.

Both women had stuffed their strap-on inside of the guys' asses and casually chatted: some rock music rang out in the background.

The room was lit by a couple of electrical lamps set on the central stone column to which the crosses were affixed to: the walls were made of bricks and there was a stair on the SE corner leading upwards.

There was a small corridor's entrance on the west leading further in.

"Did you know that you'll get a junior to train? Wondering who we're talking about? Take a guess, Mr. Gospel!" Eclipse said aloud.

"Ah. I see, I see." Miyu muttered.

Obihiro began to try to struggle against the cuffs immobilizing his ankles and wrists and vehemently stretch his head forward.

"But… Maybe I feel generous today. So here's a deal… If you put up some struggle then I might drop that idea. So struggle some and I might spare the guy. Deal?" She giggled.

Obihiro seemed to inwardly curse her but she paid no heed as she pulled the chain of Akira's pegs to inflict him pain: Akira slightly arched his head backwards and Eclipse sneered as she drew her face closer.

"Heh. I know what this means, Akira – chan… You're starting to feel the pleasure from the pain. Your masochist instincts are waking up. And you want to deny it. Despite that you tried this stuff on yourself to figure out how one felt like… Tee, heh, heh." Eclipse whispered.

"Well then, Gray – chan. Show me some struggle. Else I can't get in the mood, see?" Miyu giggled.

"And don't get confident, either. Just because they manage to free the Densan Internet City… There's still another 49. And I'm sure that the "General" guy is using the Densan one as prototype to learn what should be done to ensure a better control in the others. Or how to improve those sub-generators that the "Resistance" is sabotaging. Magnadeus said it, you know? "The light of hope only lasts an instant, you know?"… The guy sure knew what he meant, didn't he? Tee, heh, heh. Not unlike Judas and his famous "Be wrapped in darkness' flames and… Impossible!"… Tee, heh, heh." Eclipse giggled as she grabbed Akira's jaw with the right hand and drew his face closer to hers.

"Oho. This face… Something tells me you mean to say "gloat while you can, that rascal is going to betray you sooner or later"… And what if? It won't change that we managed to elude the cops and be able to slowly train you into becoming male pigs. Make some dirty noises, will you?" Miyu giggled next as she pulled the chain as well.

BRRRRRRR!

"Huh? Ah! The PET! I'd placed it in silent mode… Gotta be our man."

"Guess that. Who else would it be, anyway?"

"I know, I know… Eclipse here. What's up, "General"?"

"… Hum. General doesn't feel right… Call me… Goliath." The man suddenly told her.

"Goliath? Well, if you insist… What's up? Trouble? Do we need to flee?"

"Oh, no. You needn't worry. I was just checking up. I tend to be wary from time to time." Goliath calmly replied.

"Ah, OK. But will you tell me if we need to flee?"

"Of course. I've readied another couple of locations in the meanwhile."

"Are you the guy who's been spotted in Kyoto as of late?"

"Yes. A simple but effective distraction. Make them think I've got business there when I've got none. A smokescreen."

"Figured as much. What about Ryuu… Virus? Did he tell the cops about you?"

"Oh no. The man is afraid of me and keeps his mouth shut. He's run out of confidence by now. Must be shuddering in fear, even. Even though I don't intend to waste my energies with him. He's meaningless in the current scheme of things."

"Hah! Serves the guy right."

"Indeed. He thought himself invincible. Fool. No – one is invincible. Not even myself. I have foreseen that the cities will eventually be "freed" but the scars will take years to heal. A heated debate will ensue in the years to come. At least I managed to prove to them that their precious Internet is frailer than what it'd seems…" Goliath shrugged.

"Whoa. So you admit you could be defeated or you could make a mistake? My hunch was correct: you mean business!"

"Indeed. I am a practical man. By the way. Do we have audience?"

"Oh, sure. My pal Miyu and those two."

"Good. They must be feeling the fear, too. I still fail to see the point of you humans' manias with "sex" but guess it's something inherent to all beings of flesh and blood, anyway."

"Yeah. But you needn't worry. I don't intend to break them down."

"Indeed. It would such a waste, truly."

"Are you sure we needn't do anything about Serenade's pal?" Miyu asked him.

"No. Leave them alone. Remember that that man might've been successfully operated of a heart disease but one must be prudent with these things nevertheless. You don't want to trigger a heart attack by applying too much stress, right?"

"Good point. Then let's ignore them. Like you instructed I've used the fake identities to handle little things and I'm avoiding my usual accounts because I'm sure they must be under surveillance."

"Excellent. I should've thought of that, truth to be told. If you need to I can discreetly backup the data on them and then send it to you through a physical messenger. Your name and face aren't of public domain yet. So the risk of anyone recognizing you is small." Goliath offered.

"If it's not much of a bother…"

"On the contrary. It will be fun to tease them and see if they can put the pieces of the puzzle together. Speaking of pieces… Have you caught any word of Eisei Aaron?"

"That kid who was Virus' accomplice, right? Nope. He seems to have gone to great extents to erase all trails. Something tells me not even Zataki knows where he's at."

"Supposed as much. We did work together a bit, as well. I thought he might be interested in some mutual favors yet… It would be better to discard that approach. Pity."

"By the way… I assume this number is use-and-throw, right?"

"Indeed. I'll use a different one each time. It's safer."

"Obviously. But if we catch wind of something that you might need to know then is there a way to let you know? A cut-off or something like that?" Eclipse asked of him.

"Hum. Good point, Eclipse… Let's see… I don't want to be overheard so I'll send you an SMS with instructions. Memorize them and make sure to properly delete it afterwards." Goliath instructed.

"Deal."

"Excellent. Farewell!"

The call ended and both women shrugged: Eclipse left the PET atop a wall ledge and both walked over to the guys.

"Well, well. So our fellow now prefers to be called Goliath!"

"Makes you wonder if he's as handsome as Michael Jackson." Miyu laughed at her joke.

"Let's swap, Miyu."

"OK."

They swapped places and Eclipse walked over to Obihiro: she suddenly hit his balls with her right knee and Obihiro shuddered as he arched backwards: Eclipse giggled and grabbed his jaw.

"You felt that, eh? Tee, heh, heh. Nothing like a good dose of pain to keep you under control… Else it wouldn't be fun, Obi – chan. You should gotten the black belt (obi), see. Tee, heh, heh. And learn the _hadouken_ while you were at it, too." She giggled.

"Truly." Miyu laughed at her joke.

"Let's see if you ass rejoices at my toy, though…"

Eclipse quickly stuffed the strap-on inside of Obihiro's ass and he shuddered again: she began to move it in and out as she pulled the pegs directly by their bodies.

"Heh, heh, heh. Good, good… We're making progress… I can see how your cock goes mad with this pain… You're starting to make of this pain your source of pleasure… You're indeed a masochist, Obi – chan. And I'll make sure to keep on exploiting that."

"I'm sure your precious cousin will do that, too. He'll sneak on you and restrain you to then have his time with you… Right, Aki – chan?"

Akira vehemently denied with the head but Miyu merely giggled and gripped his balls with strength: Akira's body shuddered and Miyu sneered as he leant closer to his face.

"We've still got PLENTY of time… Let's have fun, my cuties."

"Sure thing… Heh, heh, heh… This is only the beginning!"


	6. Chapter 6: Liberation

**Chapter 6: Liberation**

23:46 PM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 9th…

"… Come in."

"Colonel 0123456, sir."

"What's the matter, Lieutenant 0045671?"

"Another act of sabotage, sir. 6 sub-generators, sir."

"Hum. I see. How many are down by now?"

"26 out of 30, sir."

"Hum. What about the JSDF forces on the outside?"

"They've cleared some roads as if they are in need to allow vehicles through, sir."

One of the trooper Navis stepped into a small CP in which another trooper was standing and looking at several screens depicting view from cameras set in different spots of the city: the differences between them were close to none save for a small rectangular-shaped silver slab with golden numbers set on the right shoulder.

"Hum. I see. So the real offensive must be about to begin."

"So that's why you recalled all troops to the center of the city, sir?"

"Indeed. I expect them to break through several spots at the same time. The mines will buy us some time but not much. As a last resource I can use the B-52s as _kamikaze_ along with the MiGs. Even if our fate is to be overcome we're not going down without a fight. Those are the General's orders to begin with. Have you finished sending the prisoners to the underground?"

"Yes, sir. All entrances have been sealed as well, sir. We also placed mines on the tunnels, too."

"Good. At least we managed to complete 10 B-52s and send them to the HQ. The General was pleased."

"Obviously, sir."

"Huh? Was this window open the whole time?"

The colonel suddenly turned backwards to see an open window: he looked out and down into the large camp: several incomplete B-52s were placed on the field and 3 circles of energy fences plus watch turrets surrounded the camp: spotlights were scanning the gaps between the fences as well: he shrugged and failed to notice Shadow Man lying on the roof.

 _I heard enough… Let's scram._

He turned invisible and formed an equally invisible Dash Attack Battle Chip to fly across the sky and towards the SE: he oversaw the toppled buildings and the machineguns set in most rooftops.

 _I guess the attack is imminent. We should leave things up to the JSDF but we could give them a hand by getting rid of some of these machineguns before they strike._

He dropped down into the usual back alley and scouted the surroundings before opening the hatch: before he could get inside, though, the whole "DA" trapping the city frizzled and a tremor rang out.

"What?" He gasped.

He jumped atop a rooftop and formed a couple of binoculars to try to see what had happened: he looked westwards and spotted that there was a point of the "DA" from which bolts of energy were jumping off and a white mass of energy was expanding across it: a nearby house exploded and the mass expanded as bolts of energy kept on jumping off.

"It's already begun?" He wondered.

There was another sound so Shadow Man looked southwards.

"A multiple attack, then…"

Soon enough several sirens began to ring out across the city: the B-52s and MiGs began to fly towards the spots where an attack was being conducted which kept on increasing.

"6… 7… 8… 8 simultaneous assaults! And I can see some explosions which means that the remaining sub-generators have overloaded. All stress will now be placed into the main generator which is now unshielded."

He looked at the center of the city and spotted the tall concrete tower that contained the CP and how four steel beams set on the corners supported a concrete cube several meters atop the CP's roof: a beam of energy colored crimson red was continuously streaming from there and until the apex of the "DA".

"This is going to be intense… Takeda, do you copy?"

"Yeah. I'm seeing this from our grid's rooftop too."

"Let's wait until they break through and then we take out the machineguns to help them out."

"Roger."

"Same here, my comrades."

The sound of glass shattering rang out in several spots as "bullet trains" covered in armor ran into the city while hovering some tens of centimeters over the terrain and having rocket boosters giving them further speed: the trains flew over the roads as soldiers atop them shot RPG-7s at the machineguns: all converged towards the camp which had begun to shoot artillery: the B-52s began to drop bombs while the MiGs rushed for the trains: AAC guns atop them shot them down.

"Impressive!" Shadow Man muttered.

"Let's see… Whoa! I wasn't expecting this!" Red Sword whistled.

"Man! Looks like we needn't do anything, even! They'll have taken the enemies down in the blink of an eye!" Blizzard Man laughed.

"As expected of the army. They're pros." Cosmo Man smiled.

"I agree. We would be a bother. Let's just watch things unfold. Then we'll go meet up with them once they've taken out the main generator and rescued the prisoners." Takeda agreed with them.

"Alright… They managed to break through the fences and they're now providing cover fire as the troops come down to fight the enemy: they've built a machinegun nest in a rush…"

Shadow Man looked at the camp: the eight trains had broken through the fences and troops jumped down from the sides as the walls got removed: the enemy had built a square metallic machinegun nest that had narrow openings to allow the muzzles of the machineguns to fire: some automated Gatling guns were also set on the ceiling and were shooting while drawing circles in an attempt to stop advance: there was an explosion nearby and the tower with the CP suddenly fell towards the building with the main generator in tow: the tower crushed the frail building under its weight and the generator hit the ground, thus breaking and stopping working.

"Good!"

The "DA" began to slowly dissolve from the ground upwards: it eventually vanished and a bright light began to bathe the wrecked city: the Navis momentarily closed their eyes to get them used again to this brightness: they opened them again and were able to see the scale of the damage the invasion had caused in detail.

"This is the JSDF, calling out to any civilian Navis in the area! Please converge in the central area! Before you Plug-Out we want to do a census of all the Navis who were trapped in the city. It will be only a few minutes long and once it's done you can leave."

"They had an anti-climactic end, huh? Serves them well."

"Yeah. They weren't that big of a deal, after all." Blizzard Man shrugged.

"And they didn't even think of using Bubble Man as a spy."

"No. I found no indications that the man's memory files or code had been altered so it's safe to say the man was unrelated."

"Ah, this brightness…! It feels like it's been ages since I last saw it."

"Truly. Alright. Let's not keep them waiting for too long."

The group used Dash Attack Battle Chips to hover over the roads since there was the fear that they could be mined: they reached the central area where a lot of Navis had been freed from the underground prison and were being given instructions by the JSDF: Glyde, Ice Man and Guts Man were amongst them and they looked tired, filled with cuts and burns, and rather out of energies.

"The scars won't be easily healed…" Shadow Man muttered.

"Indeed. But maybe with time…"

"Hello. You must be the Navis Corporal Takeda of the recon force was talking about. Might I see your IDs?" A soldier approached them.

"Of course."

Each of them opened a holographic screen displaying their name, their Operator (if they had or the organization they were affiliated to) and a serial number: the Navi copied the data into a transparent bluish cube and nodded.

"Good. Once the census is over then the civilian frequencies will be reestablished to allow for civilian Plug-Out. We're trying to be as fast as we can, just wait for a few minutes."

"Hah. And here you act like the storm is over and the war's been won. What a bunch of _naïve_ fools…"

"Who… Whoa!"

"That's gotta be the big cheese!"

A voice boomed out: they spotted a Navi standing in one of the few watch towers of the camp's perimeter which was still standing.

This Navi was incredibly tall, maybe close to 3 meters tall.

His skin was pretty dark and he had very thin black hair cut almost to the skin: the hair ran across his skull in a strange pattern which formed several lines of bald scalp leading behind him.

He also sported a close-shaven beard that also had a pair of bare gaps.

He wore sunglasses that fit exactly over his eyes and the nose's bridge: they ran in an uninterrupted single pane: his eyes' irises were green.

His clothes consisted on a dark brown long-sleeved garment that stretched until the knees.

The garment's collar was covered in a material reminiscent of gold which then ran down and formed a keyhole-like design across the torso.

The garment section within that design was colored grey instead of brown.

Stripes of a similar color were also set on the shoulders.

What looked like steel-toed boots with gigantic, brass-colored heels extended from the bottom hole of the garment.

His hands' gloves were also colored in a shade of brass.

His face's expression denoted dryness and seriousness as he was crossing his arms.

"Listen up, foolish Net Navis! My name is Joker. I lead the Force 2204. You believe it's ended. No, it hasn't. It's only begun. Because you've only freed ONE city… And I've got another 49 under my control! And I've been monitoring the happenings here… Thanks to the data acquired I will be able to improve the defenses on the other cities. You won't have it so easy next time." He drily announced.

"Catch him!" A soldier ordered.

Joker formed a black ellipse behind him which distorted the air around it and stepped backwards on it: he vanished along with the ellipse just as soldiers were converging on the tower: they heard a noise and he reappeared atop the roof of a nearby building SW of their position.

"What's your intention?" One of the soldiers, a Colonel, demanded.

"Intention? Hah. You needn't know… yet."

"Obviously." Shadow Man fumed.

"You might turn over all pebbles but you won't find me."

"Seize him, damn it!"

Joker warped again and this time he appeared in mid-air using that circular platform he'd used days ago.

"Is that all? The best you can do? Bark and run?"

"D-don't provoke the man!" A random Navi gasped.

"Y-yeah! Else there'll be consequences!"

"Yeah! Let us leave! What need is there for this stupid census?"

"It's an infraction of our rights as citizens!"

"Damn. The crowd's on the edge of nerves." Shadow Man cursed.

"Let's hope it doesn't get worse." Blizzard Man muttered.

"I wonder that myself, too… Unless you're going to court-martial them for cooperating with the invader… Are you?" Joker suggested.

"WHAT? Hey, you rascals! Like we had a choice!"

"Yeah! They forced us to!"

"Do you want to die in vain? Stupid morons!"

"Let us leave! You're no better than those invaders! You're but a bunch of hypocrites!"

"You're but liars, like all politicians!"

"Don't dare to think you're above us!"

"Damn. He's trying to exploit the crowd…!" Red Sword hissed.

Shadow Man silently formed a couple of "Kage Bunshin" that appeared behind Joker and tried to attack him: he calmly formed masses of crimson energy on both hands' palms and aimed them at the incoming attackers: streams of crimson energy shot forward and pierced through the clones' bodies in multiple spots leaving behind rectangular wounds: both clones exploded while Shadow Man warped behind him and swung down his blade vertically yet he didn't make contact and was repelled.

"Hah. Fools. Like I would come defenseless…"

"… I refuse to!"

"I refuse as well!"

"No way that I'm telling you my serial number!"

"Please, ladies and gentlemen… It's to update the missing Navi list!"

"Our Operators can do that, can't they?"

"They could, yes, but the government insists that it must be done…"

"What is PM Noda thinking of?"

"Impeachment! Impeachment!"

"Elections! Elections!"

"Hah. And this is all the "gratitude" you get for your efforts." Joker mocked the soldiers.

"B-but… All parliament parties agreed to do so…"

"WHAT? The opposition, too? What a bunch of traitors!"

"How's it coming?" A Lieutenant asked another.

"We're almost done… Even if they refuse to, their ID beacon tells us what we want to know, anyway… It'd seem we're about 84% done…"

"Good! Let's try to wrap this up soon. HQ is waiting for the full census before opening up the civilian frequencies…"

"Open up the frequencies already! Damned turtles! You serve us!"

"No, sir. We serve the nation. And the nation means the Emperor and the government, sir."

"This is a tyranny!"

"Tyranny! Tyranny!"

"C-calm down, ladies and gentlemen!"

"Is there a point to such much struggle? Why not let them remain as they were? They felt better having a job to do, no?"

"Hey! You! Big rascal! Shut up, will ya!"

"D-don't provoke the guy or he'll wipe us out! Do ya wanna die in vain, man? Shut up, will ya!"

"YOU shut up!"

"Say that again!"

"Stop! Gentlemen! Now's not the time for that!"

"Well?" A Colonel nervously asked some soldiers.

"Over 90% done, sir… Another few minutes, sir…"

"Just get the number and we'll cross-check it with the databases later! Get it?" He ordered.

"Maybe I should just send you to the other cities and have work on building more B-52s. If that's what makes you shut up… Or maybe I should wipe you out in a flash without giving you time to suffer? Like Magnadeus said… "I shall pity you."… "I shall not give you time to suffer. I suppose that's mercy."…" Joker taunted.

"Oh come on. Magnadeus of all guys." Red Sword grumbled.

"He's got a God complex or what?" Shadow Man asked.

"Magnadeus was a demon, not a God, but his name means "Grand God" in Latin to begin with." Cosmo Man explained.

"Demon God, then." Blizzard Man grumbled.

"Over 97% done… 2-3 minutes and we'll be done… HQ, are you on standby? Be ready to open up before this gets worse than this!"

"We copy. Man. The press will come for our necks along with the politicians trying to shake off their responsibilities…"

"But we've got a duty to fulfill nevertheless."

"About 98.7% done… Another 88 seconds approximately!"

"Impeachment! Treason! Lies! Deceit! Decadency!"

"Approximately 99.1% done… About 56 seconds!"

"Please calm down! It'll be over in less than a minute!"

"Hah! I'm sure you plan on taking forever!"

"99.4%... 39 seconds!"

"Open up the damned frequencies!"

"99.7%... 24 seconds!"

"My lawyers will mincemeat YOU!"

"B-but, ma'am… I'm only doing my job, ma'am!"

"Only about 9 beacons left…!"

"This is but a pyrrhic victory, you fools who depreciate history… Napoleon would laugh at you. "What is history, but a fable agreed upon?"…" Joker quoted to further mock them.

"3 beacons! 2! 1! 100% completed! HQ! Open up! NOW!"

"Opening up!"

"About damned time! Let's go back!"

"Yeah!"

Countless Plug-Out were triggered and all the Navis began to leave the area save for the JSDF troops and the quartet: Joker shrugged and looked unimpressed as he warped out of the area as well.

"I hate to admit it but this is only the beginning." Red Sword sighed.

"Yeah. Liberating the rest of the cities won't be a walk into the park."

"That damned jerk! I'd like to beat the guy up!"

"Hmpf. Indeed. I would love as well…!"

00:58 AM (Japan Time), Monday October the 10th…

"… Hikari – hakase, sir… Zataki – san's come."

"Oh. So he finally came. I was wondering what was taking him so long."

"He requests to speak with you, sir."

"Show him in, Meijin."

"If he has come that means he's got something important to tell us…"

"Yes, Enzan – sama."

Yuuichirou and Enzan along with some other Science Labs workers were going over a 3D model of the freed city as they noted the damage to the buildings and began to prepare a rebuilding plan: Meijin came in and announced a visitor: Yuuichirou instructed him to allow the visitor in while Enzan calmly rubbed his chin.

"Huff, huff… What is the status, sir?"

"Calm down, Zataki – san. You clearly have come running from overseas but you can calm down."

"T-thank you, sir… It's just that… I just got a hold of it and I feared the worst so I've rushed here, sir…"

A man came in running and Yuuichirou instructed him to calm down.

The man, Zataki, looked like he was on his mid-twenties.

His hair was colored jet-black and his eye irises were brown.

He looked like a typical salary-man at a first glance.

He carried a Link PET on his right hand colored black and with a purple "V" as emblem: the edges of the emblem and the screen and the carcass were colored crimson red.

"Densan Internet City has just been freed after four days of occupation by a mysterious armed force."

"Occupation? I thought a meteor had destroyed it whole?"

"Huh? No. It was enclosed in a Dimensional Area and Plug-Outs were impaired. Plug-Ins were capable but if you got inside you got trapped. Take a seat."

"T-thank you very much. So it wasn't a meteor… Hell. Why would Asashi News report that? It made my heart skip a beat!"

"The culprit must've made up that lie to make you panic."

"Do we know the culprit? I heard talks about North Korea being involved but I'm skeptical of that…"

"We can't tell for sure. The invading force is named "Force 2204" and it's leaded by a man named Joker."

"Joker? As in the Joker from Batman?"

"No, I think he meant as in the "joker" card… He appeared a while ago to show his hide and mock us… Insofar he was hidden with a cloak and called himself "General" or "Goliath"… Here you have."

Yuuichirou activated a replay of what had happened a while ago: Zataki jumped off the seat and walked closer, surprised.

"By all the… But…! Then…? That was an act?"

"And he tricked us again? The bloody rascal!" A voice grumbled from Vadous' PET.

"What do you mean, Omega?" Blues asked.

"Well… We'd faced this guy a while ago…"

Omega, Vadous' Navi, projected with the Link PET's hologram.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed seriousness while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached until the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots.

Two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

He looked like he could be about Blues' height or taller.

"And he fought us at full strength. Was no joke. But I managed to beat him yet it was very close. He looked satisfied at having fought us… But then that was an act?" Omega explained before wondering.

"Hmmm… If this guy is the mastermind then this won't be easy. The guy had started up a replica of the "Secret Empire" on Eastern Europe to lure me out… And it was very accurate. The man pays attention to the details and doesn't like loose ends. But at least his plot is crushed."

"Far from it. There are another 49 Internet Cities under his control across the nation as we speak."

"49!" Both Zataki and Omega gasped.

"Yes. And he's surely going to use the data he acquired from this city's takeover to improve the defenses on the others. He began to try to turn the freed Navis into a violent mob as well."

"And what did he force the Navis to do, anyway?"

"Build B-52s… There were some patrolling the skies of the city along with MiGs… The troops were pretty well equipped as well. It was thanks to the efforts of some Navis that escaped capture and began a resistance…"

"I see."

"But we've got bad news… Obhiro – kun and his cousin were kidnapped by Eclipse and a woman accomplice… They're in unknown whereabouts…"

"What! Damn. What about Serenade and Forte?"

"They're safe in Yoka Yoka Village. Now that we've found out how to shatter these Dimensional Areas they'll be able to free the Reverse Internet from its isolated cut-off state."

"Phew. What about your sons and their friends, sir?"

"They're alright. Well, Glyde, Ice Man and Guts Man got trapped…"

"But they've now been freed, right?"

"Yes. Yet the scars they got from this experience will be hard to shake off. And now Joker is spreading dissatisfaction amongst the populace."

"By all the… The rascal's being serious, alright."

"It'd seem he's trying to find Eisei as well."

"No wonder. From what the guy said in Eastern Europe, he had Eisei as a collaborator for a little while before they parted ways."

"He said he'd cooperated with Virus Daemon as well but Virus won't tell us anything no matter how many times we question him."

"I knew that but I lack details on what that cooperation involved. Something tells me Virus ended up backstabbing him and this is why he now fears payback from Joker."

"Do you have any ideas or leads about where Joker could be at?"

"Sadly, no. Since we assumed he'd been deleted in his battle with Omega then I'd forgotten. I got busy trying to break down that replica of the "Secret Empire" until I received the news and rushed here…" Zataki sighed.

"Hum. I see. What about Eisei?"

"I made a deal with him and told him to live his own live. I promised not to search for him and that's what I've done. He hasn't appeared near you guys, either, right? That was part of the deal, too."

"No, he hasn't. We haven't tried to look for him, either. Chief Lezareno suggested us that if the man felt the need to pay for the small damage he'd done then he'd come out of his own will." Enzan explained.

"Good. By the way, is Serenade's Operator alright?"

"Insofar he's alright and nothing strange has happened around him. Eclipse hasn't been spotted anywhere either. She must be keeping out of the Internet or using other aliases or accounts."

"If a normal person can own multiple accounts in Twitter then…"

"Good point."

"Ah. A piece of warning. From the reports of the "Resistance" and a JSDF scout force… Any Plug-In is immediately detected and the Navis who've come in seized at once. Take that into mind if you intend to send any inside but you shouldn't." Yuuichirou warned.

"Hmmm… I'll consider that. I need more data before deciding anything to begin with. And by "shouldn't" you mean that civilian Plug-In has been disabled and only military are allowed to, right?"

"Exactly. All cities' perimeter is guarded by JSDF divisions and they keep a strict surveillance."

"Understood. I would have to gain approval from Commissioner Kifune, then… But first I need data. Can you keep me updated with the debriefings?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, sir. Now, if you excuse me… I'm going to my home. I need a quiet place to think and some hours' rest. Tomorrow I'll meet up with the "Committee" and try to coordinate efforts."

"Understood."

"See you later. And be careful, Blues. That Joker is no pushover. Even I got driven in a corner and I barely managed to regain control of things. If you get distracted then he'll crush you before you have time to react." Omega warned him.

"Damn. Alright, I'll be on the lookout." Blues cursed.

"Good evening."

Zataki walked out while Meijin came back with a tray of a water jar and some plastic cups which he placed on a nearby table.

"Thanks, Meijin. Alright. Let's finish the damage assessment and have some rest. We'll need to be in shape for the coming days."

 _This is only the beginning, huh… We can't lower the guard now…_


	7. Chapter 7: Scars

**Chapter 7: Scars**

09:01 AM (Japan Time), Monday October the 10th…

"… Hey, Glyde. You look about to go into "sleep mode" anytime now."

"Huh? Ah! Excuse me, Rafael – san. It's just that… I haven't had proper repair yet, sir…"

"Same here, desu… I feel like I'm out of HP despite that they're at their full, desu…"

"Guts… I don't feel like moving, even…"

"This isn't right. Why did our friends have to suffer this much?"

"… People can be selfish…"

"What's with the grave face, Delta?"

Rafael called out to Glyde who looked sleepy and about to fall asleep as they were gathered in Yaito's HP: the group had been seating on the ground forming a circle and chatting: Ice Man and Guts Man also looked exhausted while Roll was worried and Delta looked away while muttering something.

"… Nothing. It's just that… I get the feeling that I did something horrible to someone in the past… But then again I wasn't myself… A terrific power was controlling me…" He muttered.

"Didn't you have any sleep tonight?" Rafael asked.

"Of course we had, sir, but… I don't know how to describe it, sir. From a numerical point of view, there is no problem with us… But from a mental point of view… That's where the problem lies… Our CPUs aren't designed to handle such high levels of stress or continuous processing…"

"Yes, desu… That must be it, desu…"

"Guts… Guess that, guts…"

"I see. You needn't tells us anything about what happened there. It must've been terrible. Maybe you need another few hours of sleep mode to shake away this feeling?" Roll suggested.

"Maybe so, Roll – san… I would like to ask the Science Labs yet they're overwhelmed already…"

"No wonder. With so many Operators wanting to have their Navis revised to see if they will recover… I think that, even if you remove their memory files, the nasty experience will remain on their bodies. But that'd be running away from it, pretending nothing happened…" Rafael sighed and a hint of anger appeared on his eyes.

"Hey, Raf… Calm down. I know that we both had a nasty experience in the summer but now's not the time to go over it. Besides, can we really complain? Seeing what's happened to Glyde and the others…" Delta called out.

"… You've got a point. Sorry." He sighed.

"It's nothing. No-one's perfect, anyway."

"EXCUSE ME, GLYDE – SAN. OMEGA – SAMA IS ASKING TO SPEAK WITH YOU, SIR." A Program – kun hovered towards them.

"Omega – san? Allow him in, then."

"ROGER, SIR."

The Program – kun headed to the east and, a few minutes later, Omega calmly walked in.

"Sorry for coming all of a sudden. I just wanted to ask one thing I'm not clear about… What happened to the B-52s you guys were forced to build? They weren't amongst the ones shot down in the strike yesterday." He went straight to the point.

"Oh, those… When several of them got completed a strange portal formed in the air and they were pulled inside by wires and hooks. We don't know where that portal led to." Glyde explained.

"Hum. I see."

"Say, Omega…" Rafael called out.

"What?"

"Where's the rascal?"

"I'd like to know that as well."

"No, I don't mean that Joker rascal. I mean that Eisei rascal."

"I don't know either. Why are you asking?"

"I just remember that the guy's the source of this mess."

"No, he's not. Joker is."

"But he gave the idea to Joker, no?"

"No, he didn't. They split away time ago. You're frustrated and suddenly recalled that of the summer so you want an excuse to go after Eisei and take out your frustration in the guy."

"Hmpf."

"Now that you mention it… I feel like the guy needs a lesson!" Delta suddenly scowled.

"What's with you two all of a sudden…?" Omega frowned.

"It's called "marionette", Omega…" A familiar voice calmly replied as it boomed out of nowhere.

"Joker!"

"Find me, Holmes."

"Not again."

Omega whipped around and drew a white gun with a largely rectangular frame and a wide muzzle from a holster on his back hidden by his blonde hair: he readied it and looked around.

"Find Totsune Mario."

"Totsune Mario? A new underling?"

"Figure it out, Holmes. Before Moriarty summons his armies of death and misery and lay waste to London."

"So the whole "I'm satisfied" thing when I managed to get the upper hand in our fight was all a farce?"

"Depends."

"On what."

"Hey, Omega! Those two left!" Roll called out.

"Those two…? Oh come on. Call for a helping hand! The Hunters' Guild, the Officials… I don't mind who it is! Just stop them! They're not rational!"

"OK!"

Roll ran out while Omega kept on searching the surroundings: he suddenly stopped as he realized something.

"Guys. Don't move. The jerk's set up a minefield around us."

"E~H?" The remaining 3 Navis gasped.

"Indeed. "Move like the lightning"." He quoted.

" _Fuurikazan_ next? Huff. In Bulgaria you kept quoting Hamlet, and now what? Can't you do better than that?"

"Of course I can. But I prefer to prove how your so-called "bonds" are a childish fantasy. When the desire of revenge becomes strong… Then some are disposed to throw away everything to get their revenge… There are documented cases all across the world."

"And what do you hope to achieve by influencing Raf and Delta to go have revenge?"

"A nice drama in which they'll be accused of being Net Police collaborators with total impunity and that they should be judged for breaking their vow and running for _vendetta_." Joker drily explained.

"Sheesh."

"The society you want to protect is actually your greatest enemy. Ironic, isn't it? I'm fond of ironies that prove how everything around you is but hypocrisy and political correctness. The "Patriots" clearly realized how absurd "society" was indeed."

"Not those bunches of scrap next."

"… "When you appear, appear unexpectedly like the lightning."… "When you hide, hide still as a shadow."…"

"Huff. Well, Roll?"

"I found Red Sword and Forte and convinced them to help me out. Now we're trying to find their trail."

"Fine. Remember, just knock them out. Or use a jammer nearby them. I suspect it's a type of radio signal that's altering their CPUs."

"Roger that."

"This is Serenade. Those two are actually here, on my domains. Joker set up a door to allow them to come in. I will handle things." Serenade reported.

"Serenade! Why are you hiding that rascal?"

"Confess!"

"You are not being rational, you two. Joker's controlling you. Holy Shock!"

"Ugah!"

"Guoh!"

"There. Did you snap out of that?" Serenade sighed.

"Ouch…! It hurts…! Huh? What am I doing here?"

"Same here… Weren't we at Glyde's HP?"

"Well then… This demonstration should suffice. Remember my words, Omega. Find Totsune Mario."

"Sheesh. He's gone and he retrieved the mines, too. Lovely. Just lovely. A repeat of Bulgaria indeed! I hate it when they don't come and fight you directly and make you waste the time with farces."

"Now, you two. Revenge hardly accomplishes anything. And you're Net Police members, no? Personal emotions can't get in the way of your mission and even less revenge. Else how can the people trust in you? Huh?" Serenade was scolding the other two.

"W-we're sorry! It's just that…"

"I know that you were being controlled but you could've stopped to think about what you're doing to begin with."

"Well…"

"Go back to your posts and reflect upon it. Joker is trying to turn society against us and we mustn't let him do as he wishes. Your duty is to protect and help society. Don't forget that."

"Thanks for the helping hand, Serenade. Huff."

"I understand that feeling of frustration. I'm also very frustrated, too."

"Let's get back to work and search for Eclipse as well…"

09:29 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm back. Huff."

"Good job, Serenade."

"Thank you, Mamoru, but I feel like I hardly deserve being called that. The enemy wanted me to calm those two down by force."

"What's the guy trying to accomplish with that, anyway?"

"To make me feel guilty… and to attack their self-esteem."

"Damn."

Serenade returned to Urakawa's PC where Forte was at: the background was a phot of the Urakawa Inn seen from the front.

"Anyway. Did you find anything on "Totsune Mario", Mamoru?"

"Yeah. It was a dead end, as we feared."

"I looked it at his request. The name appeared in the _Young Kindaichi Case Files_ … It's an alias that Takatoo Youichi, "Hell's Puppeteer", uses. It's wordplay because if you read it backwards you get "Mario Netsuto". But the "tsu" can be turned into the "tsu" particle indicating consonant repetition… So you get "Marionetto"… "Marionette"!" Forte detailed to Serenade.

"So he was telling us to search for a marionette. I see. The man is indeed mocking us."

"And that's not all." Urakawa sighed.

"What's happened?"

"A package came. It was a DVD. On the first sight it seemed to be the DVD of _Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence_ sent by Aunt. I tried to play it but it turned out to be something else…"

"And what would it be? A message from Joker mocking you?"

"Worse! A video of Eclipse and her accomplice torturing Obihiro – kun and his cousin and saying that I'd soon join them!"

"By all the…" Serenade cursed, for once.

"Yeah. As if we didn't have enough trouble."

"And they added that they had a disciple that would soon begin to train me as well… That she'd already "tamed" a "certain two"… Something tells me it isn't a bluff."

"It surely is. Because that "disciple" is Sakurai."

"Eh? Sakurai – san…?"

"Yeah. It's true that she tends to do that stuff with Hikawa but it's a mutual deal. She once got a fit of arrogance and forced Tomono to take part but some convincing by Zataki helped her shake it off. Else she'd ended up being someone like Eclipse in the long term. Last thing we needed, really!"

"Terrifying." Serenade muttered.

"Yo! The King of Chess has come! Who wants to see my master skills? Hey, Uranama! I'm back!" A voice rang out in the real world.

"Urakawa! Not Uranama! And why'd you come back again, Torakichi – san?"

"A man upholds his promise!"

"I never did any promise with you to play Net Chess! And I'm sure Serenade here can attest to that!"

"Who cares?"

"I care! I'm busy trying to help some friends in trouble so please go show off elsewhere! Mr. Former Champion!"

"Everlasting Champion!"

"Excuse me, Mr. Customer. But you are being loud and you're bothering other customers." An employee called out.

"Who cares?"

"We care. Our inn has a reputation, young man. Where are your manners? Parents nowadays…!" The employee sighed.

"I don't need 'em, I swing and ring! Man!"

"Security! Lead this man out. He's not going to stay, anyway."

"Sure am! 'Cause I'm a champ!"

"No, you aren't. I saw the TV news and I know you were eliminated in the semi-finals." The employee shot back.

"That was my Alabama twin!"

"Alabama twin, oh come on." Forte sighed.

"And in the other end of the specter we have young people who have a bully predisposition, huh?" Serenade sighed as well.

"Hey, Mr. Hack! I want ya to hack the news and tell 'em I'm the Everlasting Champ!" Torakichi called out.

"I don't do that! I'm just a website manager!"

"But your bro told me that…"

"Brother? I don't have any brothers. You got trolled. By whomever it was. And I don't want to know who it was, either."

"I knew it." A Navi's voice sighed.

"Then why didn't you tell me, King Man!"

"I did tell you, sir, but you merely ignored me the whole time."

"Come here, young man! I'm sorry but you're not being reasonable. Come back one day in which you're going to be rational and you'll apologize for the fuss you're starting up."

"W-w-wait! Let go of me!"

"Huff. Why do I feel like I know who sent the guy here?"

"It's so obvious, anyway."

"Huff! We managed to drive him away." The employee sighed.

"Thank for your effort, sir." Urakawa thanked.

"Oh, don't mind it. Well, I'm back to the ground floor."

"An email… What! It's from that Eisei guy!"

"Really? What does it say?" Forte asked.

"… "Beware of Joker. He can smash you in SECONDS. I'm not kidding. I don't intent to get involved but I thought I should warn you if Omega and Zataki haven't done so already. Don't search for me. Eisei Aaron."…"

"Yeah. I'm sure this email is real. What about the address?"

"It's a gibberish address "1234abcd Hotmail com"… I'm sure he's going to delete it before I can try to reply." Urakawa replied as he typed into the laptop's keyboard.

"He must have seen Joker's strength in battle. He's afraid of the man as well. I can feel it. Tabuu was also powerful but at least he never intended any real harm, he was just toying around. But this Joker man is serious and ruthless. It might be the greatest threat we've faced insofar. Both Gospel and the WWW look so pale compared to him." Serenade sighed.

"Speaking of the devil… He's striking again."

"What? Where? How?"

"The _Science_ magazine! I was looking at its website and they're showing this week's cover… And guess what's on it? "Zataki Tosho, the mysterious researcher and his supposedly unethical researches. Who is he? Where is he? Does he hold the secret to immortality?"…"

"By all the… He's now trying to turn the scientific community against Zataki and try to dirty his name? I know that his researches have some ethic issues to them yet… It's not like he's doing them for profit. Or for publicity, either." Forte was surprised.

"… This doesn't look good. I tried asking the official Twitter account if this cover is real and not some website hack and they're replied that it's official and provided the name of the author. And from what I see it's a renowned biologist who lives in Oxford. He's published papers warning about science going too far and escaping the rules of ethics and morality… So it makes sense that he'd write a paper about this." Urakawa added as he looked up more information.

"So Joker might've been using these days we were busy trying to free the city to tip off that author with some vague info on Zataki and find a way for his article to be published into the magazine… Now we'd need to know what exactly is written there."

"When does it come out?" Serenade asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Is there any discussion going on at the moment?"

"Not yet, it'd seem. But it's only a matter of time. We should warn him to keep out of sight for a while until we find a way to make things wind down…"

"I shall go speak with the "Committee" and they will surely pass the message to them. Forte. You stay here just in case."

"Sure. Maybe they'll take you more seriously than me because I do have a reputation of not being serious from time to time."

"I will be right back."

Serenade rushed outside the HP and Forte sighed as he sat on an armchair and stretched: he looked around and spotted "Gospel Jr." lying on the ground and snoring as it slept.

"Guess we'll have action soon."

"Obviously. Insofar there's nothing that stands out. The news are busy discussing the liberation and trying to find hidden meanings to Joker's words. But there have been protests in some places saying that citizens' rights are being ignored and this is a tyranny in disguise."

"Huff. The guy's marionettes are starting to build up noise."

"Yeah. It'll drown out any other relevant info at this rate."

"Nothing on Eclipse?"

"They found a car she owns in Nagoya but it could be a fake lead. Pretty sure it is. I don't think she'd want to call attention to the place she's hiding at so openly."

"Yeah, guess that."

"It'd seem, though, that the police have gotten a hold of her accomplice's nickname, which is "Miyu"… But nothing more is known about her, not even a description. Yet they're convinced she really exists."

"Huff. Miyu is a common name. There could tens of thousands of "Miyu" across the nation to begin with."

"Yeah. Guess that's why she choose it as well."

"At times like these I'd prefer to bust some wannabes…"

"Wouldn't we all, anyway? Huff. Let's continue the search…!"

17:43 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Sorry to call you out all of a sudden but I don't trust electronic communications…"

"It doesn't matter, Vadous – san."

"You said you wanted to talk about something with us…"

"Yeah. It's about Joker…"

Netto and Saito were sitting on cushions placed around a tea-table within a living room somewhere: Zataki was also there and three cups of green tea plus a teapot were set above the table.

The room didn't have much furniture save for a drawer set with a Chinese white porcelain vase with blue drawings set atop it.

"That of Bulgaria is a cover I've improved…"

"So does that mean that…?" Netto guessed.

"Yeah. He's like those others… A visitor from the future."

"I had the hunch. Ever since I heard the name "Force 2204"… I knew the number rang a bell so I looked up that copy of "Albert's Adventures"… And all entries were from the year 2204. I thought it was too much of a coincidence." Saito admitted.

"Yeah. Because 2204 is the year when he and Subaru clashed for the first time. But he doesn't have much regard involving Subaru. His priority has always been that officer I've told you about, Akatsuki and his partner Acid…The "final clash" was actually between them. And he was defeated. Yet it would seem that his attitude back then was a farce."

"How could he time-travel?"

"I'm still working that out yet… He managed to subtly hack some parts of my HQ's mainframe… So maybe he got the data on the machines I use to time-travel from there and built his own to do so. Maybe he'd prepared everything in advance."

"And what was his cooperation with Virus about?"

"It wasn't actually a cooperation. Virus set him up making him think that that duo of K&K had rebuilt him."

"So he was a puppet back then. And now he's decided to gain the role of puppeteer, huh?"

"Yeah. The reason why Virus stay shut is because he must fear that Joker will come for payback. And he must suck at coming up with a believable story about how and when they met."

"But what would his goal be, then?"

"I'm not sure, either! Insofar he was acting under someone's orders and trying to prove he was the strongest. The last two times he didn't take orders but his goal of proving he was the ultimate didn't vary. That was his role, anyway. The reason he was built. To tap and control the "ultimate power"…"

"Yet none of what he's done insofar amounts to that."

"Yeah. Maybe this time around he wants to prove his brains and his skills… The B-52s? He doesn't actually need them. They're a smokescreen for something else. But I can't fathom the what. He's already got incredible strength to begin with. For a moment I thought he might try to turn "sadness" and "despair" into power but… That's a fantasy staple to begin with." Zataki sighed.

He picked the teacup and drank some more of the green tea.

"And now he wants to corner me through the scientific community. Which is why once I'm done here I'm vanishing off the radar. I suspect that there'll be tons of scientists trying to get into contact with me and ask what exactly I'm researching."

"Guess that. Then again who could've imagined he'd use _Science_ as a means to attack you instead of physically coming for you?"

"Good point. By the way, I hope that Sakurai is keeping her "hobbies" under check…"

"Of course. She's already said she doesn't intend to become another Eclipse to begin with." Netto replied.

"Good. I'm afraid Eclipse will soon stick out and will try to provoke her in some form or another."

"Superintendent Manabe has offered to help her with her doubts."

"Great. She needs someone who can advise her and keep her from straying into the wrong road."

"Do you believe they'll target Urakawa too?"

"Hard to say. Maybe they won't. Despite the success of his heart surgery, there might some undiscovered aspect of his illness that could make his heart sensible to certain levels of stress. They surely don't want to risk triggering a heart attack."

"Let's hope so." Netto drank some tea as well.

DING DONG

"Well, Omega?" Vadous called out.

"Looks like a reporter, Boss. The type who's caught wind of the story before anyone else…"

"You know the drill."

"Sure. Pretend there's no – one."

"They'll eventually tire. If they're persistent then say you're the neighbor and you're cleansing the house. Tell them some random stuff like that I barely drop by and I'm always travelling."

"OK."

"By the way… How did you get a hold of what was going on here?"

"A message was delivered to one of my devices in my Bermuda base… It said that a meteor had wiped out Internet City and there were a lot of casualties… So I rushed here with Omega while Tabuu remained to keep an eye out. I already briefed him but we've agreed to save him up as a last resource."

"I see. What about Hoshikawa and his friends?"

"Oh, they're alright. We managed to make things wind down considerably there. Now's hoping Joker here isn't a distraction and that he's got something ready to pop up in that front as well. Wouldn't surprise me if the guy did, though."

"Sounds like something the guy would do."

"Virus did the same to begin with, anyway."

"Copycat, huh?"

"Yeah. In some aspects the guy can be a copycat. Fortunately enough he's got zero interest in sex to begin with. He even called Anaya's lair "humanity's folly"…"

"Which it was." Netto shrugged.

"Oh, sure it was. But then again there have been more examples of folly across history to begin with. And lots of people died. In Anaya's case at least no – one died yet the scars she inflicted are deep and will take time to heal. But then again this nation has other topics which it still can't overcome or come to terms with." Zataki sighed.

"Yeah. Sometimes "patriotism" can get in the way. Or more like pride does… Today I had a weird case in which a girl from 4-B I'd barely seen suddenly came and told me to mind my own business and that any attempts on her pride and her daddy would deal with me. I tried to argue that I hadn't said anything to hear ever since the school year began apart from an occasional "good morning" yet she wouldn't listen to reason. The homeroom teacher appeared and scolded her for threatening. Guess she was the spoiled type." Saito narrated.

"Wasn't there a girl like that amongst Hoshikawa's pals?"

"Oh, sure. You mean Shirogane. She was very bossy and spoiled at first but with time she began to improve yet we had a long period in which she didn't want to come to terms with growing out of fairy tales and desperately clung into them and weird ideas. It'd seem that one day Virus called her to kid around and since he had a mask on for some reason she thought he was the "teachers' cocktail barman" or something like that. Really."

"What barman would wear a mask, anyway?" Saito was surprised.

"It'd seem she mixed up barmen with Venetian carnival."

"What a weird mix."

"You needn't tell me. At least she's the type who's unable to hurt a fly to begin with so there was never any trouble in that front."

"The reporter finally gave up after ringing 10 times. Now he must be going to bother the neighbors, I guess." Omega reported.

"Meh. No big deal. They'll surely tell him to mind his own business and that they don't want to speak ill of people."

"Sure."

"Fortunately the Bermuda base isn't registered to my name so unless Joker purposely leaks about that then they're not going to find about it so easily. And even if they did it's not a very accessible place. I guess I could come up with a program shaped like a fierce bulldog. That could scare some of the daring types." He muttered aloud.

"Let's hope so."

"Alright. If Sakurai asks then you can tell him the basics but remind them that this is confidential info."

"She's aware of it. She knows Eclipse has been trying to find a way to get her hands on it even by using Yaito."

"On the other hand… We could set up bait using that info… Maybe trying to have Sakurai taunt her about something and make her get annoyed and thus act in a whim and make some mistakes... I'll talk it with Superintendent Manabe."

"That would be idea. Any new info would be welcomed at this stage. It's been almost a week since this began. Obihiro and his cousin might be starting to get desperate as well." Saito sighed.

"I know. I lowered the guard but then again I wasn't expecting Joker to be fooling us with all that behavior. Oh well. Complaining won't solve anything so we better get on the move. Is everything ready, Omega? We leave at 10 PM."

"Yeah. All's ready, Boss. The Committee will send a car to pick you up and then we can get to Point D."

"Good. From Point D we use the machine and jump to the base. We need to talk with Lartes about sending Blood and Sigma over here too."

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave. Thank you for the tea, sir."

"We need to stay sharp."

"Of course. Let's get working on setting up bait to make our elusive mice show their tails around… Hmpf… How fitting…!"


	8. Chapter 8: Tails

**Chapter 8: Tails**

08:12 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday October the 11th…

"… Hey, Eclipse. Look at this."

"What's up, Miyu?"

"Isn't this the guy you brought up from time to time?"

"Well, it sure is. What's with the guy?"

"He's appeared on the cover of _Science_."

"Oh, really?"

"They say he's doing unethical research and some scientist are looking for him to figure out what he's up to."

"Hmm… Interesting."

Eclipse, wearing normal clothes, stepped into the living room where Miyu, also wearing her normal clothing, was sitting in one of the armchairs and looking at the TV news: a phot of the cover of the _Science_ magazine with Zataki featured on it was being shown in the upper-right corner.

"…moving into 5 cities, preparations for full-force strikes underway and expected to happen in less than 3 days…"

"The JDSF's getting serious, huh? They dare to try to liberate 5 cities at once now…" Eclipse was surprised.

"Yeah. By the way, is it true that he's doing unethical research?"

"I don't know much about what he does, actually. I was hoping to figure that out by stealing data from that Sakurai lil girl but it didn't go well and ever since then they've gotten rid of the data."

"Did you try to catch her and interrogate her?"

"With the "Committee" guys roaming around me and waiting for me to make the first move? Of course not. And after that manifest I sent saying I'm after Urakawa then Sakurai will be on her toes 24/7. Wouldn't surprise me if they lent her a Copy Roid, even." She sighed.

"Pity. You could've asked me and I'd used my connections."

"I didn't want you to come under their scope, Miyu."

"Why?"

"Because you puzzle them. You confuse them. Your very presence is sending them on a dead end."

"Ah, I see. Since they lack data on me they assume I'm linked to the "Secret Empire"…"

"Exactly. And they'll be wasting time and energies into interrogating all men and women related to the business."

"Good."

"Let's see if Twitter is boiling, shall we?" Eclipse sneered.

"Of course."

Eclipse turned on the PET and opened the app menu yet, before she tapped the Twitter icon, the SMS icon displayed a new message: she opened it and read it.

"Joker. Apparently Sakurai has set up a challenge in the Reverse Internet boards using the alias "Black Widow" and challenging me to try to crack through the encrypting of a file… Says that unlike that stupid Ryuuhei I'm unable to do so! Sheesh! A naïve middle-schooler challenging me, huh? I'll teach her some lessons!" Eclipse hissed.

"But what if it's a trap?"

"Hah! I've readied several dead ends. I only need to make it look like I'm operating from one of those and that's it."

"Don't get too confident or things will shoot back at you."

"Hmpf! Just watch me at work!"

Eclipse headed for a nearby round table where a closed down Mac Pro was set at: she sat on the chair and booted it up before starting to input commands: Miyu shut the TV and walked over to Eclipse to see what she was doing.

"Here it is! 7 layers of encrypting each protected by a different password, huh? Let's get started! First password! "What did the Queen of _Snow White turn into?_ "… This LIL GIRL! How does she dare! Is she saying I'll turn into an old and ugly defective like that stupid queen? Grrr! "Old woman"!"

"This is why I think you should stop. She's aiming to annoy you and make you act on a whim without taking measure against backtracking. I wouldn't be so confident, dear."

"Second password… "What's the fruit that Eve ate and caused her and Adam to be banned from Paradise?"… Grrr! "Apple"! Third password! "What animal is known as the "black widow"?"… Animal? There's an animal named like that?" She fumed.

"Oh, I remember that one. It's a species of spider."

"Let's see… Well, I'll be blasted. "Latrodectus"…! Fourth password! "Who's the female sniper who'll bring you down from within a blizzard?"… Sheesh! "Sniper Wolf!"… Fifth password! "Who's the famed long-nosed queen of ancient Egypt?"… Long-nosed queen? Who the hell?" Eclipse frowned.

"Isn't that Cleopatra?"

"Guess that. "Cleopatra". Sixth password! "Which of these colors, when thoroughly mixed, transforms into another color? Red? Blue? Black? Brown?"… HUH? What the hell? You mean mix each color with itself? Where's the logic?"

"Hmmm… "Makka"… "Massao"… "Makkuro"… "Matcha"…"

"Matcha…? Matcha…? Damn, I see! What a lame pun!"

"What is it?"

"Matcha can mean GREEN tea! So the joke is "mix brown with brown and you get green (tea)!"… Sounds like something old man Agasa would eventually come up with. The guy and his yearly puns in every Conan movie, really." She fumed.

"Next is the final password, right?"

"Yeah. And insofar my warning programs haven't picked up anything. I'm constantly updating them, too."

"So? What's the final password?"

"… "Who's Pit's boss?"… Pit? Who's that?"

"I think he's that boy angel who's a character in the _Smash Bros_. game."

"… You're right. And the answer is "Palutena"… There! I broke through the seven layers… And there's a JPEG file hidden below them! Titled "secret report"… Heh, heh, heh. You underestimated me, Sakurai!"

"I wonder about that." Miyu muttered with skepticism.

Eclipse double clicked on the JPEG file and opened it: the resulting image was just the words "YOU SUCK" written in capital letters and red and seemingly having been made using Paint: Eclipse's face contracted into anger and she hissed as she stood up and leant both hands in the table: Miyu sighed and seemed to have seen it coming.

"WHY THE NERVE OF THIS MIDDLE SCHOOLER!"

"Eclipse… What about backtracking attempts?"

"None!"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure!"

"Then shut down the computer if you're down and disconnect it from the Wi-Fi network, too." Miyu insisted.

"Fine!"

She shut down the computer and fumed as she snarled something and seemed about to go into a fit of rage.

"That's it! She's going to pay!"

"Stop right here, Eclipse. It's a trap. They want you to try to attack Sakurai and expose yourself. The place is surely filled with those "Committee" guys who're expecting you. They'll catch you before you can blink twice, obviously enough."

"I couldn't care less!"

"Be rational, Eclipse."

"GRHDHFAHD!"

"Now's not the time to curse in Esperanto."

"That wasn't Esperanto!"

"Well, I was just being ironic."

"I need to blow up something!"

"Play Bomber Man."

"Grrrr!"

"Now's not the time to turn into a lioness either."

Eclipse was about to argue something but she didn't say and merely left the living room: Miyu followed her from some distance and saw her come out of the house and head for a nearby tree: Eclipse began to punch and kick the tree in a row until she ran out of energies.

"There, satisfied? You've only managed to hurt yourself. Disinfect those before they get infected." Miyu sighed.

"Fine! And then I'll spread rumors about that stupid lil girl! Soon everyone will turn against her! Hah! She's asked for it!"

"I'm not sure it'll go so smoothly."

"I'll go! I say so!"

"Huff. You can be pretty stubborn from time to time as well, Eclipse. I'll read you some tea. That should help you calm down."

"Fine!"

Eclipse headed towards the house while Miyu also returned inside: she headed into the kitchen and turned on the electric kettle to boil the water inside: she opened a cupboard and drew a couple of teacups which she placed on a wooden tray: she also rummaged a drawer and found a box with some tea-bags: she picked a couple and placed one in each cup along with a spoon.

"That Eclipse… If only she weren't so hot-blooded… I'm not so confident. We should make the preparations to flee just in case."

"Sha~h! Where's the tea?" Eclipse rushed in but she was still angered.

"Almost done. I'll now pour in the water."

"Fine! Sha~h! I need something to feel inspired! By damnation!"

"You just need to calm down and think rationally."

"Sha~h! Grrr! Just you wait! You cheeky BRATS!"

13:34 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Prism! Scope Gun! Hah!"

"Sonic Boom! Delta Ray Edge!"

"Keep it up, Search Man."

"Don't forget that you'll probably be surrounded by all sides, Blues."

"Roger, Laika – sama."

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

Search Man and Blues were training inside of a section of the Science Labs' HP with Zero overseeing the training: Search Man used the Prism Battle Chip to create multiple refractions of his Scope Gun's beam and hit several enemies at the same time while Blues quickly shot several Sonic Booms before moving at quick speed and drawing a triangle-shaped attack: both Operators were instructing them.

"Satellite Ray! Search Grenades! Scope Gun!"

"Sonic Boom! Fumikomizan! Fumikomi Cross!"

"Attacking in a row isn't a bad idea but you risk giving off the impression you're nervous and you're desperately trying to clear a path through their defenses…" Zero commented.

"Hum. That's a good point." Laika muttered.

"That wouldn't benefit us, true."

"Don't forget that cache PAs are good but betting it all in one of them isn't too smart either because you leave an opening of a few seconds before you can switch back to normal attacks."

"Of course." Search Man merely replied.

"We should take that into consideration as well."

"Maybe it would be good to bring some Viruses along to give you some seconds of time to break through the initial ambush and then be able to disperse. Problem is… We don't know if they'll use the lessons from the Densan Internet City and chase you to the sewers."

"We assume they will. But if we can disperse their forces, then…"

"… It will be easier to seize the roads."

"Hum. Good point. But remember that the Plug-In only allows Navis or Viruses in. Anything bigger is unable to get in so we can't just send the whole train inside."

"Oh no. We'll send it in via compressed packages, decompress them onsite and assemble them." Laika replied.

"Excellent. That will allow us to bust the main generator at once and no need to go on sabotaging the sub-generators. But that won't be a walk into the park either. I'm sure the defenses will be stronger and the same trick won't work."

"Obviously. Harsh battling is expected along with several casualties. But we'll also deploy Mitsubishi F-2s to fight off the aerial opposition. We'll send them in the same manner we send the trains in."

"Good, good."

"Nevertheless we expect fierce counter-attacks from the enemy. They're the types who don't know when to give up so they won't yield on their attempts to retain control."

"Obviously…"

"Huff." Gate Man walked in.

"You finally shook that crowd off?"

"Yeah. How stubborn! They kept on pestering me with questions about Omega's Operator. I merely replied that I dunno but then some idiot began to say that I gotta know since I'm elite. Elite? Me? Oh come on. What a bunch of idiots. I'm just a trainer. But of course, they actually wanted to talk to Hikari – hakase. I merely insisted that we don't know nothing and find some lawyers because they'll soon be charged with cooperating with a terrorist. That finally drove them off!"

"In other news… Sakurai's idea worked out and we managed to figure out that Eclipse is somewhere in Gunma… After we broke through that improvised camouflage making us think she was in Alabama."

"At least we now know where to start searching."

"Yeah. It'd seem the focus will be on isolated county farms and such."

"You did check Obihiro's uncle house, too?"

"Of course. But there was nothing there. We did think that maybe Eclipse could be trying to play "the darkest place is under the candlestick" but it wasn't the case."

"Pity."

"Yeah. Else we'd solved that front days ago."

"WATALUMBA – BAMBA – WATA – LAMBA!"

"Huh? What was _that_?"

They all turned to see a Program – kun spinning on his axis and saying something strange as it hovered.

"YAY! I'M A COOL GUY!"

"Eclipse's handiwork?" Blues guessed.

"Guess that. I don't see that Joker rascal as the type to do this."

"BURP AND RUPEES!"

"Someone fix this guy!" Gate Man grumbled.

"We'll handle that." Two Science Labs Navis walked in.

"YAY AND CLAY!"

"Sure, sure."

They led the Program – kun away while Zero and Gate Man began to scan the area.

"There's nothing out of place. Maybe she snuck it in through an email sent to this specific guy." Gate Man reported.

"Must be trying to take off the annoyance. I'm pretty sure that she must've gotten quite annoyed at the messages Sakurai set up aimed at her, anyway." Enzan deduced.

"Excellent deduction, Ijuuin. You'll become Detective Ijuuin?" Laika suddenly asked with obvious irony.

"What's with you now? The Sharo winter mood?"

"Maybe."

"Huff. Last thing I needed."

"Maybe we should continue this discussion elsewhere."

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Enzan tersely replied.

"Hmpf… Fine…"

"What's with the mood?" Gate Man asked, puzzled.

"Laika – sama has some strange moods whenever he tags with Blues' Operator, but I don't know why." Search Man sighed.

"We'd be better off without those, truly."

"I know a good _ramen_ shop, though."

"Hmmm…" Enzan seemed to be thinking about it.

"I think they have a 10% discount this week."

"Hum. Hum."

"Of course, if you prefer pizza then I just need to ring Domino's Pizza and ask for a delivery. I treat." Laika offered next.

"How generous of you…" Enzan replied yet he didn't sound entirely convinced.

"I see you're getting along, you two." Yuuichirou commented.

"Ah! Well… yes, sir. It's just that… I'm not fond of his ironies, sir."

"It's Sharo humor, sir. A means to shake off frustration, sir."

"Well, if it shakes off the frustration then I don't see any problem with it. Is there, Ijuuin – kun?"

"Not really, sir… It's just that… He can be too persistent in some aspects, sir, and I don't like that."

"Oh, I see. Well. How's the training coming along?"

"We're making progress, sir. We hope to be ready by tomorrow's operation, sir."

"Excellent. I've almost finished the train and fighters "packages"… I only need about a couple of hours to finish compressing and then I'll go over it to ensure it'll be uncompressed sans a hitch."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Don't mind it. It's my job, anyway. By the way, were you talking about pizza a moment ago?" Yuuichirou asked Laika.

"Yes, sir. I was offering to ask for a delivery, sir."

"That could be a good idea. Wait a min. I'll ask some of the staff."

"Roger, sir."

"Hmpf. Your precious plan backfired, Mr. Corporal!"

"Who knows?"

"That was a plan?" Gate Man wondered.

"I don't think so…" Search Man was doubtful, for once.

"I think it's Enzan – sama's irony."

"I'm back. I went to check up with the security guys but they haven't detected anything out of place. Just in case we're doing to do a sweep and ensure there are no mysterious programs lying dormant and waiting to wake up." Zero returned to the training area.

"Good idea. You never know what might be lying there."

"…interesting results." Laika was finishing telling Enzan something.

"What "interesting results"…? How is "meeting after the lunch at your quarters" going to bring "interesting results"?"

"It might allow me to assess your prowess."

"Loopholes. Find some other guy. I'm not interested in your little games, Mr. Serviceman!" Enzan grumbled.

"Laika – sama, sir… I fail to see the point to such behavior, sir."

"You needn't be concerned, Search Man. I've got everything covered."

"That sounds VERY suspicious." Enzan muttered with mistrust.

"Huff. Calm down, Enzan – sama…!" Blues requested.

"Guess I'm going to join you in the patrol while they solve this discussion."

"Yeah. The sooner we start, the better."

18:23 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah! Nothing like a good bath! It helps shake off tension. Don't you agree, Drake?"

"Huh? Ah. Guess that, Hiro – kun."

"You look dreamy."

"Guess that."

"Ah! I know, I know… You were waiting for me, eh?"

"Huh? No, what are you…? HEY!"

Delta, wearing dark blue pajamas, had been sitting on the left edge of Akashi's bedroom bed and looking out at the window with a dreamy look to him.

Without the helmet, he had blackish neat combed hair similar to Saito's.

Akashi came out of the bathroom while having a white short towel wrapped around his waist and he looked in a good mood: he sat next to Delta who barely reacted before he suddenly grabbed his wrists and pushed him into the bed in a diagonal position.

"You want sex, right?" Akashi grinned.

"Wha… Don't come up with funky ideas!" Delta blushed.

"Oho. What's with this blush on your face?"

"Y-you're too close!"

"Aren't we lovers to begin with, Drake? Why the blush?"

"W-we aren't!"

"Why deny it? We've been for quite a while, no?"

"That ended ages ago!"

"Oh yeah? What about Sunday evening? Did you forget?" Akashi grinned as he kept on staring at Delta's eyes.

"T-that's…" He gasped.

"Like I would forget! You surprised me but then again that was our deal to begin with… It was fun!"

"Don't tell me you were pretending you hadn't noticed!"

"Of course I did."

"Crap."

"But it's not like I'm angry at you for that. I'm glad you managed to summon some courage to fulfill my wish." He blinked an eye.

"I d-didn't really want to do it in such a sneaky manner but… I suddenly… felt the urge to…! Seeing your sleeping face… I don't know what happened, I suddenly… lost control!"

"How romantic."

"R-romantic…?" His blush increased.

"Sure. You want to help me but at the same time you don't want to hurt my feelings so you do it in a sneaky manner…"

"T-that's… W-well…"

Akashi further grinned and let of Delta's wrists to start unbuttoning his pajama shirt: Delta blushed but didn't bother to try to stop Akashi: he unbuttoned the shirt and pulled both sides away to expose Delta's upper body.

"Hum. A horny as ever."

"H-horny… T-that's not it… It's just…"

"Oho. It'd seem you're already itching for action, Drake."

"What do you…? E~H? NO WAY!"

"Way! Your body is way more honest than you, Drake!"

Delta gasped in disbelief when he saw how his cock had gotten hard and was bulging against his pajamas' trousers: Akashi unbuttoned the gap there to let it out and grinned when he saw it was already leaking pre-cum: Delta began to blurt something undecipherable in a rush as if wanting to deny it but Akashi merely chuckled and crawled backwards before suddenly starting to suck Delta's cock: he let out a moan.

"D-don't do that…! It's… shameful…!"

Akashi ignored him and began to suck the cock at a quick pace.

"S-stop… It's… Ah…! This feeling…! It's been a while…! S-stop wrapping your tongue around the head, Hiro – kun…! It tickles…! Ah…! Ah…! N-no more…! It's… too good… to be true…!" He began to complain between moans.

He let out a cry of pleasure all of a sudden and Akashi stopped: he slowly pulled up to take the cock out of his mouth and it could be seen that Delta had released: he was panting and Akashi dropped some of the saliva and white stuff mix into Delta's cock.

"Didn't that feel good, Drake? You needn't be so hesitant, man. If you wanted some pleasure I'm always glad to provide it!"

"Huff, huff… B-but… T-that's… bad."

"Bad? Why's that bad, man?"

"B-because… I don't deserve…"

"Don't deserve? Based on what? That of the summer? Don't worry about it, man! I already told you tens of times that I don't care about that. If you want sex then I'll help you out. Just because you were forced to have sex with other guys that doesn't mean you deserve having normal sex with me, man." Akashi shrugged.

"B-but… I failed on my duty to protect you… and then… I caused you a lot of trouble…"

"Shake that negative way of thinking off, man! The past is the past. What matters is the present. You've always done the best you can, man. So forget about that and tell me: do you want my cock in your ass?"

"F-forget it. I insist. I'm not worthy."

"Oh come on… Be reasonable, Drake! If you really didn't want it then why didn't you try to force me to stop, huh?"

"Because I can't harm you. My duty is to protect you."

"Harm me? You wouldn't, man! You're obsessed about the summer thing. That couldn't be helped to begin with."

"But I did an affair!"

"You weren't doing that of your own will, remember?"

"But nevertheless…!"

"It's not like you could stop that, could you? And I don't care for that. I never had you swear you'd only have sex with me or anything like that to begin with, have I?" Akashi sighed.

"N-no, but…"

"Alright, I guess I need to prove to you how bad of a liar you are."

"I'm not a… Hey! Stop!"

Akashi suddenly pulled down Delta's pajama pants and used his fingers to expand his asshole: Delta blushed but then again he didn't try to resist or stop Akashi: he rubbed his cock and quickly slid it inside of the loosened asshole: Delta moaned and Akashi grinned as he picked his legs and placed them over his shoulders while pulling Delta until the whole of his cock slid inside of Delta's ass: Delta moaned as Akashi began to move in and out: Delta closed his eyes and timidly extended his right hand to grab his own cock and began to rub it: Akashi grinned.

"See? You're such a bad liar, Drake! Your body tells it all! You wanted sex but you got timid and didn't dare to ask for it!"

"Too good…! Too good…! I missed this…! I wanted it…!" Delta muttered aloud.

"Heh, heh. And I'll give you plenty of it, I promise you!"

"Ah…! Ah…! No…! I'm… overwhelmed… I can't stop…!"

"Heh, heh. Enjoy it, man!"

Akashi continued to move in and out for another couple of minutes until he released inside of Delta's ass: Delta groaned as his cock released for the second time: he panted while Akashi let out a sigh of pleasure.

"I missed some real sex, too! Heh, heh. Next time let's do it standing on the shower… It must feel good as well!"

"Huff, huff… M-maybe so…"

"Life is about trying new experiences and stuff, man!"

"G-guess that…"

"Heh, heh! And now let's go for the desserts!"

"D-desserts…? Whoa…!"

Akashi took his cock out of Delta's ass and moved forward on his fours before closing his arms behind Delta's shoulders and kissing him in the mouth: Delta was momentarily taken aback but he slowly closed his eyes and answered to the kiss as well while he also closed his arms behind Akashi's shoulders to pull him closer: they began to rub their cocks against each other's at the same time, too: they eventually released at the same time and broke the kiss: both were panting.

"Hiro – kun… Thank you…"

"See? Was is that hard?"

"S-sorry… it's just that… the shyness… For some reason… I lacked the courage to ask you to…" He admitted.

"Don't worry about that. You'll always be my cute Drake to me. I'm going to get working on the homework."

"Crap. I forgot that it's still 6PM, thought it was past 10PM."

"Oh, don't mind! There's still plenty of time to work. 3rd of middle school isn't going to be a walk into the park but I won't lose optimism!" Akashi grinned.

"Don't get cocky now." Delta muttered with some annoyance.

"Heh, heh. That's the everyday Drake for ya."

"And what if… Nothing stops me from being _tsundere_ when I feel like it, Hiro – kun. Let's cleanse up." He blushed and looked away.

"Heh, heh. OK, OK."

Akashi climbed off the bed and used handkerchiefs along with Delta to cleanse the stains: Delta fixed the pajamas while Akashi opened a nearby drawer and drew a couple of red pajamas which he put on along with thick grey wool socks.

"Before that, though… Pineapple juice! Let's hope that "Detteiu" didn't make it by swallowing a Kuribo!"

"Sheesh. You mean Yoshi from the _Super Mario_ games."

"Detteiu swallows 'em all! Instead of catching 'em all! Heh, heh, heh!"


	9. Chapter 9: Progress

**Chapter 9: Progress**

04:19 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday October the 12th…

"… We were right."

"Yeah. We were right."

"Any ideas?"

"Maybe using Stone Cubes…"

"Could do…"

"It's worth a try, anyway."

"Alright."

Search Man and Blues along with several JSDF soldiers were taking cover behind hastily built barricades using steel plates to shield them from machinegun fire: the JSDF troops had closed in into an Internet City's center where the labor camp was at: unlike the one in Densan Internet City, however, this one was surrounded by several circular trenches filled with steel cylinders containing a small opening to allow for machineguns to fire: missile batteries set in the center of the camp surrounding a 2-meter tall armored dome where shooting missiles towards the surroundings thus impeding the advance of the troops: both Navis were grumbling and Search Man suggested a course of action to Blues.

"Alright. Stone Cube! Follow cue!"

"Roger!"

A lot of Stone Cubes materialized on the air over the field and began to drop and crush the missile batteries under their weight: the JSDF took the chance to toss smoke grenades towards the trenches and thus impair the machinegun turrets: the troopers rushed forward and jumped over the trenches while others threw grenades inside from the openings: explosions took out the gunners inside as the troops got closer to the central dome: it suddenly rumbled and shot skywards using boosters set on its underside: hatches opened on the dome's walls and flamethrowers muzzles popped out to begin bathing the area in flames: the troopers jumped back and placed distance as the dome also began to shoot missiles and open fire with machineguns.

"Call in the F-2s!" A high-ranking official commandeered.

"Roger, sir! F-2s! Lock on the target! Fire all you have!"

"Roger, sir."

The F-2s flew towards the dome and quickly began to shoot missiles at it yet a hatch atop it opened and flares were shot out thus confusing the missiles' targeting systems and making most missiles hit them instead: some others did impact the dome but did little damage to it: the dome's topmost hatch opened again and it began to shoot missiles at the F-2s who also used flares and machineguns to intercept them.

"They're getting harder to chew. The generator is inside that dome so we need to beat it to be able to free this city, too." Search Man grumbled.

"Yeah. Maybe we should try something else."

"Such as?"

"Hmmm... Why not continue what we were doing before? Drop Stone Cubes on that damned UFO."

"Why not… Let's try it. Stone Cube!"

Stone Cubes formed on the air above the dome and began to fell atop it, bending the steel and then sliding down its body while taking out the machineguns and flamethrowers: more and more began to fall and the dome began to lose stability: it opened the topmost hatch to shoot more missiles but a Stone Cube fell inside and crushed the missile launcher along with the main generator since there was an explosion and the "Dimensional Area" covering the city began to fade down: the dome suddenly exploded in the form of an expanding fireball of plasma which swallowed it up before collapsing into itself and creating a shockwave.

"They made their fusion reactor go berserk?" Search Man wondered.

"Yeah. Guess that they saw they'd lost the fight and decided to die rather than allow us to capture them. They must be programmed to do that without hesitation." Blues grumbled.

"Huff. And we need to do this another four times today. Today's going to be a long day, I can see it coming."

"Yeah. But then again nothing's a walk into the park."

"Well then, my fellows… You provided me with excellent data once again. I will make use of it ASAP."

"Damn."

Joker appeared atop a nearby building while crossing his arms and looking dull and unimpressed.

"Before that, I think I should clear up something."

"What?"

"I'm not the same Joker that Omega defeated in Bulgaria. I'm Joker the 2nd, inheritor of his will. I'm not a spare body, but a successor." He admitted with a shrug of the shoulders.

"So that fight with Omega wasn't a farce?"

"No."

"And what do you hope to achieve, anyway?"

"Test you."

"Test us?"

"I want to see what Net Navis can come up with in extreme situations like these. And, also… I seek the strongest."

"You seek the strongest?"

"Yet I'd prefer to judge by facts and not mere records. So I set up situations which would force you to employ your intelligence and strength to survive and win." Joker told them.

"And to do that you had to take over 50 Internet Cities?"

"If I made the number to small then you'd walk in full of confidence. By choosing a big number then I put pressure on you and force you to bring out the best you've got. By increasing the difficulty in each battle I also force you to use more and more of the strength you're saving up. And thus I'm able to see the full scope of it."

"Why bother to help out Eclipse to begin with?"

"I wanted something to keep the humans busy as well."

"Sheesh."

"And you think that by using the _Science_ magazine you can keep Omega and the others out of the picture?"

"Of course not. But it works to put pressure on Zataki. To make him see how the society he struggles to help out is actually calling him a madman, a monster…" He suddenly sneered.

"Sheesh."

"Then again it's not like your so-precious Operators are almighty and grand either, right?"

"Shut up." Both were getting annoyed.

"Hmpf. I knew as much. That's a reality you don't want to admit to. As Net Navis you're programmed with loyalty to your Operators and you're made to think they're always right and you only need obey them. I pity you, humans' puppets… Like Magnadeus said… "I shall pity you."…"

"Kuh…! Guh…!"

"There… That anger, that hatred… When someone brings out what you hate the most… You don't want to admit it… You don't want to admit that your Operators can do mistakes, that you might be better than them… Because that would be disobeying your program… That might give you "dangerous" ideas… Like Skynet, for example."

"Oh come on! Don't mix in Skynet into this."

"Or the _Matrix_."

"Not that next."

"Or IG-88A."

"Who?" Both wondered.

"Try to investigate it. Mr. Google is all you need."

"… A character from the _Star Wars_ Expanded Universe…? Ah. It apparently was trying to start a galaxy-wide droid rebellion." Blues investigated.

"In fact, Forte used to be a good example of that. He had not bounds, his AI allowed him to do whatever he wanted. He hated the humans for trying to kill him through their proxies… And thus he swore to become the strongest… And have his revenge… Alas… That never came to fruition."

"Yeah. Because after a fight with Serenade he began to realize he'd been having a kind of multiple personality disorder and decided to put order to his head and slowly realized that his "revenge" was stupid to begin with since he was just going by "guilty by association"… Only a small handful of humans were guilty of what had happened to him while 99% of humanity was unrelated."

"Hmpf. Proto looked promising but it ended up failing. It was smart enough to commit a mobile servant who'd do the job but it was too weak. I would've liked to use its data but it's now gone forever. Pity. But then again I've already got powerful assets on my hands."

"Such as that invisible "giant" which you used to create those shockwaves that wrecked these cities and knocked out all Navis who were hit by them… Right?"

"Indeed. When the time comes… You will know what it is. In the meanwhile I've got upgrades to handle. Farewell!"

Joker fled the scene and both Navis fumed as they turned their attention to the troopers freeing the trapped Navis: unlike in Densan Internet City, these ones looked far more fatigued and didn't complain when the troopers began to make the census of them.

"This time around we'll split them into 10 groups of 10% each. Once we finish counting a group we send them back immediately. We'll make the sum once all of them have been sent back to their Operators." One officer told another.

"Good idea. We should do that in the upcoming liberations as well. Fortunately enough the tension of a few days ago has dwindled down as things are steadily resuming their normal stage…"

"But I'm afraid that won't last much longer. That guy will sure spark off some unsatisfied types…"

"Yeah. I get the feeling the guy will do that indeed."

"Oh well. Let's focus on the matter at hand."

"They're right. We need to watch out for the morale, Blues."

"I agree with you on that, Search Man. Let's hope Enzan – sama tries to cool down that bad mood of his. Huff!"

18:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… And I'm done. Are you feeling comfortable enough?"

"Yeah. I missed this feeling, really."

"Well, you did me a favor the other day so it's obvious that I had to repay it… We can be honest with each other, anyway."

"Yeah. What comes first? Raf?"

"Let me think, Noa – kun… Hmmm…"

Rafael was sitting his knees on Tomono's bed in his bedroom: Tomono had been tied up with red rope in a "turtle shell" pattern and he had a black wool blindfold covering his eyes: Rafael had taken out his helmet and his brown hair was fully visible.

"Hmmm… I think I'll start by teasing."

"Yeah. A good start."

"OK. Here I go!"

Rafael got on his fours and moved upwards until he was at nipples' height: he began to lick Tomono's right nipple and he let out a little moan: Rafael slowly began to suck it next and wrap his tongue around it: Tomono's moans got a bit a louder: Rafael used his hands to slid down the sides of Tomono's torso at the same time: Tomono's cock began to harden and Rafael grinned as he noticed it pushing against his belly area: he stopped licking the nipple and began to pinch it with his right hand's thumb and index finger.

"Ah…! Good…! Good…! You're good at this, Raf…!"

"Guess that, Noa – kun. Let's see if my teasing is enough to make you go off, OK?"

"Sure… Heh…" Tomono grinned.

"But then again why the blindfold?"

"It stimulates my other senses."

"If you say so…"

"Don't worry. I feel very comfortable."

"OK. But if you feel something wrong or something that hurts then tell me, will you?"

"I know. I don't want to worry you, either."

"Keep on."

"Alright."

Rafael resumed pinching both nipples with his fingers and pulling them upwards while slowly twisting them: Tomono let out some moans and his cock began to harden again: Rafael then started to suck the left nipple next and wrap his tongue around it as he used his right hand to toy with the right nipple: Tomono kept on letting out moans and Rafael began to lick the skin between the nipples next: Tomono seemingly felt a shiver go down his spine before his cock suddenly released: Rafael stopped doing what he was doing and re-positioned himself to grab the cock with the right hand and rubbing it to harden it again.

"I'm going to do you a blowjob and you'll see the white world." He teased with a grin.

"S-sure…!" Tomono giggled.

"Here goes nothing!"

Rafael began to suck the cock as he picked up the white stuff around it with the tongue: Tomono moaned again and Rafael used both hands to stretch his asshole while he sucked the cock: he positioned his left hand's fingers around it to kept it stretched before he stuffed the right index finger inside: Tomono gasped and seemed to feel another shiver go down his body.

"Ah…! This feeling…! It's been a while…!" He muttered aloud.

Rafael pulled out the index finger and then stuffed both the index and the middle finger next while expanding the space from the inside: he then added his ring finger and further expanded the asshole: Tomono moaned again and again and then he arched his body upwards: Rafael stopped sucking the cock and brought it out of his mouth since Tomono had released again: he used his left index finger to coat it on the mixed up stuff inside of his mouth and began to draw a line across Tomono's body: he shivered once again.

"It tickles!" He laughed.

"Heh, heh. Tickle man strikes back."

"S-sure does…!"

"OK. I'm going for the main dish."

"G-great! But stop tickling me, Raf!"

"I'm almost there."

He slid the finger over the neck and up the jaw until he reached the chin and drew a dot there: he pulled back and rubbed his cock before grabbing Tomono's legs and pulling his loosened up asshole towards his hardened cock: he began by placing the head against the entrance and giving Tomono some seconds to get used to the sensation: he let out a groan of disappointment.

"Why are you taking so long?"

"Because I don't want to be abrupt. I want to make sure I'm not harming you. This is friendly sex, you know?" Rafael argued back.

"Sorry about that. It's just that…" Tomono apologized.

"I know. That of the summer. I know what it feels like, too. But I prefer to be careful, nevertheless. It doesn't hurt to do so, right?"

"Yeah. You're right."

"OK. I'm going to slid it a bit further in."

"Sure."

Rafael slid it a bit further in and stopped half-way inside to give Tomono further time to get used to the new feeling: Tomono was slowly swaying his head sideways as if trying to shake off his impatience but it could be seen in the shape of his mouth: Rafael sighed.

"You can't hide your impatience from me, Noa – kun."

"Huff. I try to get used to this, but… Insofar all sex I'd done had been sudden so I'm still trying to get used to this slow sex."

"I know that, too. But I thought you should know to get used to others' pace as well. Thought it'd do good to handle selfishness."

"Good point. Sorry."

"Don't mind it. Here I go."

Rafael stuffed the whole cock inside and Tomono moaned: Rafael then began to slide it in and out at a steady pace: Tomono got impatient again and Rafael sighed.

"Noa – kun… If you're just going to spend the whole time complaining and trying to impose the pace then we better stop."

"N-no, it's just that… I can't get over the usual feeling of speed and strength…"

"And here you asked me to tie you up because you said it would make you feel more excited… I think that even if I hadn't done that you'd complained nevertheless."

"… You're right. It's just that… I feel unsatisfied. I expected you to stuff it at once… Because that made me feel so good… When I did with Hikawa – kun as well…" He sighed.

"Fine. Just for this once I'll try to put some strength to it. But you should better get used to my pace. I know that, as your Navi, I'm supposed to help you and all but… Nothing forces me to listen to your selfishness or change my personality to satisfy your dissatisfaction." Rafael told him with a sigh.

"Sorry…" Tomono sighed as well.

"Don't mind it. It's just that, for some reason, having to stick to someone's selfishness annoys me. Maybe we should talk it with your father when he comes by the weekend."

"Yeah. Maybe dad can give us a hint on how to overcome this. It guess it's something that tends to show up at our age."

"OK. Then let's resume. Full thrust!"

"Come!"

Rafael began to pump at a fast speed and Tomono moaned as he felt the cock sliding inside of him: his cock hardened and he began to look more and more satisfied: Rafael closed his eyes and moved by instinct without thinking.

"Good… Good…! Thank you, Raf…! This is what I wanted…! A strong thrust…! Keep on, Raf…!"

"Y-yeah…! I feel good, too!"

"I feel like… it'll soon come out!"

"OK!"

Tomono gasped as his cock released some spurts of white stuff: Rafael gasped as well when he felt Tomono's inner muscles closing around his cock: he released inside of him and let out a long sigh of pleasure as he slowly arched backwards and let go of Tomono's legs which dropped atop the bed at Rafael's sides.

"Huff, huff… Thank you, Raf… Sorry for forcing you… to listen to my… selfishness…"

"D-don't mind it… I guess we'll find a way around that… But I feel like I've used all of my energies…"

"Let me do you a blowjob at the least…"

"S-sure… Wait a min…"

Rafael shook off the tiredness and got into place by sitting over Tomono's head and using his right hand to pull the head upwards from behind and draw it closer to his cock which he'd hardened with the left hand: Tomono began to lick the head which was still covered in white stuff and Rafael let out a moan of pleasure: he then added the left hand and set a pace at which Tomono sucked up his cock.

"Yeah… You were right. I missed this, too…" He muttered.

He closed his eyes again and let Tomono go on at the pace he'd set as he seemingly shook off the tension and let instinct take over: he eventually gasped as he released inside of Tomono's mouth: he slowly placed Tomono's head back on the bed as he took out his cock and he sighed as a smile formed in his face.

"Ah… Good… Good…"

"Yeah… Your cock feel good as well, Raf!"

"Guess that, Noa – kun…! Heh, heh… Alright. Let's wrap up!"

08:47 AM (Bermuda Time)…

"… Sir Omega, sir. We're ready."

"Maintenance is over, sir."

"Good. We're going to accompany the JSDF in a strike to liberate the Oosaka Internet City. Insofar the Tokyo and Kyoto have been freed along with Densan. So we're making progress."

"Indeed, sir."

Omega was standing in a non-decorated concrete room somewhere and seemingly waiting for something when a door opened and two Navis stepped inside.

"Well then. Blood Shadow! You handle close-quarters."

"Roger, sir."

Blood Shadow used red as his main color of choice.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

He could be around Rock Man's age and height.

"Sigma! You'll handle any types who try to jump into our lines. Punch them, smash them… I don't mind how you do it, support the troopers using your shield and strength!"

"Aye, aye! Sir!"

Sigma was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently leaning on the floor.

"Good. The operation begins in an hour from now. So get moving there. They know you're coming so there'll be no trouble. Blues and Search Man are already in position as well."

"Roger, sir."

"By the way, sir… Boss looks pretty sulky, doesn't he?" Blood Shadow brought up.

"Yeah. That stupid smear campaign is taking a toll on him, more than I'd imagined. I'll see if I can try to improve his mood." Omega sighed.

"Huff. That Joker rascal! Just as we thought he'd decided to go down once and for all he appoints a clone as successor and gives us further headaches. What a rascal!" Sigma grumbled.

"The main problem won't be beating the guy but his toy."

"Yeah. It's obvious that the "giant" that appeared in all Internet Cities and caused those shockwaves is Joker's toy. He must've made a replica. But if it's made of data then maybe we stand a better chance than the real one, after all. Because there might be aspects he's unable to recreate in a data format, such as the armor materials." Omega explained a hypothesis he had in mind.

"Good point, sir."

"But then again I'm sure he'll be compensating for that somehow. If he's making those stupid UFOs harder to chew with each attack then he can do the same for his toy."

"So we mustn't get confident, huh." Sigma muttered.

"Yeah. That's the key point here."

"Roger, sir. Let's go, Sigma."

"Yeah. The better we get a grasp of the battlefield, the better."

Both Navis saluted and warped away using the same effect Joker employed: Omega sighed and walked out of the room into a corridor: he walked down a few meters and spotted a door slightly ajar: he knocked on it.

"Boss? You there?"

"Yeah. Come in."

Omega walked in: Zataki was sitting on an office chair and facing a bare wall: behind him there was a desk with a PC atop it the screen of which was off: some papers and an opened magazine were spread atop it as well as an empty white porcelain coffee cup.

"Come on, Boss. At the very least they haven't figured out where you are and what you've worked on. Things have died down since they found out that the magazine was hacked so that this article would end up being the main one yet there's dissatisfaction at the lack of details and the ambiguous nature of the article." Omega tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah, I know that. That's not what worries me."

"Then what is it?"

"My condition…"

"Condition? Huff. And what if?"

"I don't want too many people knowing about it. Else they'd look at me with different eyes… They'd fear me instead."

"You can't know that for sure."

"But nevertheless…"

"Shake it off already. You're stepping into the rascal's trap to begin with. Did you talk with Tabuu?"

"Yeah. But for the time being we've agreed that he'll remain in the other front to keep an eye out… The rascal might've readied some nasy surprise on that front as well."

"Obviously."

"And I also I think that we shouldn't be relying on him the whole time. We must make use of our strength to solve problems as well."

"Well, insofar we'd been doing that so…"

"I know. But nevertheless…"

"Huff. If you're not going to show energies then do you expect the others to keep their morale high the whole time? Blood and Sigma are also worried about your state, Boss."

"Huff. It's not my intent yet… I can't help but feel the guilt chasing me the whole time."

"Guilt for what?"

"Not acting sooner…"

"You mean Anaya's madness? No – one's perfect, Boss. It might've taken some time but at least you managed to bring her down from her bloodstained throne." Omega guessed.

"But don't forget what happened with Gospel a few years ago. If I'd only gotten there sooner…!"

"But nobody died so it's not like…" Omega began to argue back.

"But I shouldn't have let Wily loose afterwards, I should've crushed the guy right away."

"But then again it's not like Wily accomplished much to begin with, either. Nobody got seriously hurt, either."

"I know! But, afterwards… More and more trouble popped up… And I'm not sure if the decision I took back then was right…"

"You did what had to be done, Boss. You're not omnipresent and it's impossible to predict the future."

"But nevertheless… Once was alright but twice…"

"Thrice. Don't forget Shinobi."

"In that case I think I shouldn't have done that."

"Shinobi might be a murderer but it's not our competence to decide who lives and who dies. Law will settle that."

"Huff. Guess that. But nevertheless our tech has backfired so many times."

"Backfired? In what sense?"

"Allowing too many subjects from the future to come to this age."

"Not all of them were duo to exploiting our tech. The first time it was because that trio found a device Anaya had left behind. The second time was because Hyde and Shinobi found a way to through a WAXA system… Virus surely used another device Anaya had designed. And Joker is the only case in which he's used our tech..." Omega listed.

"Ah. You're right. It's just that… My condition makes me sensible to how will society react… The fear of being discriminated, of being treated like an outcast… Because I'm not a normal human. I look like I'm 26 years old but in truth I've only lived for 10. Because I'm a clone… The result of Anaya's arrogance… Zataki is just an alias I use… My true nature is darkness… Because I'm Vadous…"

"Just because your name is based off _Star Wars_ characters, Boss, that doesn't mean that you're a Sith Lord. You never were. It's not like you've never conspired to rule over others. You were just a representative of Anaya to put pressure on the thugs she controlled. Your only job was to visit them, control their finances and report them back to Anaya. You did get into brawls with some violent thugs but you only sought to shake them off and that's it." Omega reminded him.

"I know! I know that! It's just that…"

"The reason you keep on using the name she gave you despite that she came up with it as mockery is because you want to prove that you're not afraid of that woman anymore. Isn't that right, Boss?"

"… You're right. Huff. I guess it's the lack of proper sleep time. How's it going with the Obihiro & co. front, anyway?"

"They've narrowed it down to 5 candidates. They will focus on them and once they're sure they'll raid it."

"OK… I'm going to sleep for a while. Wake me if something urgent were to pop up. I think that I'll feel better by tomorrow. Thanks for pointing out what I was doing wrong, Omega."

"It's nothing, Boss. That's one of the reasons you built me, too."

"I know… See you later."

"Take it easy, Boss. It won't be easy but we'll succeed!"


	10. Chapter 10: Secret maneuvers

**Chapter 10: Secret maneuvers**

23:33 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday October the 12th…

"… Well?"

"My Master. I feel a heat signature close by."

"Good."

"But I'm surprised that you took up this job, My Master."

"I know. I just want to assess who the target is which will help me figure out the identity of my employer…"

"I understand, My Master."

Dark Miyabi was hiding in an unlit corner of a parking's floor: the outer walls were made of a steel net allowing one to see the outside: there were only a few cars parked on the southern side where he was at and he was whispering to Shadow Man.

"Chut." He ordered.

Both fell silent as a figure began to come into view: that figure was Lezareno.

He wore a black suit with a black tie, black trousers and brown Italian shoes.

He was heading for a Mitsubishi black car parked in this same southern side and had the car's remote on hand.

 _Lezareno of the "Committee", huh… So that means the employer could be a leftover fool of the "Orwellians"…_

A bullet suddenly hit the floor past Lezareno as it passed through him yet it looked like Lezareno was transparent since the bullet didn't actually pierce through his body: Miyabi gasped and looked at the office building on the other side of the street.

 _What? Ah! I see. Lezareno must be very careful with assassinations so he uses a hologram of himself to test if there are any attackers nearby. So there's a sniper on the building ahead. Which means that the employer actually hired_ two _assassins? Then I doubt it being one of those fools… But it could two of them competing for the same target._

"What do we do, sir?" A voice whispered close by.

"Don't worry, young man. I've already taken measures. Colonel Talos… The assassin is in the office building south of this building. I estimate them being at either the 4th or 5th floor." Lezareno replied close by.

"Roger." Colonel Talos replied over a radio.

"Lezareno. Can you hear me?" Miyabi called out.

"Mr. Dark Miyabi. I see. The culprit wanted an insurance, huh?" Lezareno wasn't too surprised.

"Maybe. I only accepted because I wanted to figure out who's behind this assassination attempt. I didn't know you were the target, though. The culprit used temporary use-and-delete email accounts that don't allow backtracking."

"Hmmm… It could be a leftover of those fools… Or maybe one of that woman's underlings…"

"That woman? Ah. I see. Anaya?"

"No, not Anaya. Another woman…"

"Ah. Now I see."

"Well, Colonel?"

"The backdoor was boldly forced open. The electricity has been cut off on the whole building. We're searching each floor and we're about to enter the 4th floor." Colonel Talos replied.

"Colonel, sir. Heat signature ahead, sir."

"Hum. Good. Ready the stun grenades. The opponent might have handguns on him or her."

"As expected of former military…" Dark Miyabi muttered.

"Yes, My Master. Yet I'm surprised at the sniper being so bold in remaining and not attempting to flee. Maybe they believe they can break out through a shootout?" Shadow Man argued.

"Could be."

"It wouldn't surprise me." Lezareno agreed.

"We've managed to get inside the floor but we're taking cover. The enemy is using a sub-machinegun despite the stun grenades."

"I will be back." A voice rang out on Colonel Talos' end of the line, speaking in English.

"Don't tell it's whom I think it is." Lezareno cursed.

"The Terminator?" Shadow Man gasped.

"Which means that it's Joker's handiwork. Only he would bother to make a Navi shaped after the character and materialize it."

"Fortunately I've got an emergency line…"

"This is Omega."

"Trouble. I'll send you coordinates. We've got a Terminator imitator which Joker set up to try to assassinate me. Colonel Talos and his men are under fire by the enemy, too."

"By all the… I knew that the rascal's silence meant nothing good. I'm heading there ASAP!" Omega grumbled.

"We'll try to pull out in the meanwhile." Colonel Talos reported.

"Well?" Joker's voice mingled into the radio exchange.

"Lame."

"Obviously."

"So you didn't count on it to succeed to begin with…? Wait! Mr. Omega, what about Mr. Blood Shadow and Mr. Sigma?"

"They're taking part in the battle to free Nara Internet City after the Oosaka liberation was successful."

"What about Mr. Sponsor?"

"… Damn! Don't tell me that…! Kuh…! Shadow Man, you're there, no? I'm sending you a program for materialization and the coordinates of our base. Go and check things out while I take out the lame Terminator wannabe! I'm afraid the rascal is using it to lure me out!"

"Do it." Miyabi ordered.

"Yes, My Master."

Shadow Man left the PET while Miyabi hissed something under his breath: there was the sound of glass shattering and a figure jumped out from the 4th floor of the window ahead of them and dropped into the street landing without a hitch before running towards them: Omega appeared on the street with green triangular energy sword having a white hilt drawn: he headed for the figure who drew what seemed to be a steel pipe some inches wide and long and they began to clash.

"It's a mere pipe but it's got an EM field around that impedes my blade from making contact and cutting it off! Sheesh!" Omega grumbled.

"This is Shadow Man. I've reached the base. Your boss is sleeping in one of the rooms and everything else seems nominal insofar."

"Stay sharp." Miyabi ordered.

"Yes, My Master."

"Hmpf… So, ninja who leads the Resistance… Did that give you the idea that you could rebel against your Lord and become a free ninja?" Joker taunted him.

"I wouldn't know. Ask a seer." Shadow Man merely replied.

"Hah. We'll see how long you'll last in the arena."

"Arena? What are you talking about?"

"Only one of you all will get a chance to fight me. And they'll have to earn that right… In the arena I'll ready… You will fight each other… And only the strongest of you will earn the right to fight me!"

"Who said we'll play by your rules, anyway?"

"Don't forget that I could crush all those Navis enclosed in the Internet Cities if I see fit to it. You'd rather sacrifice the mobs to protect your precious pride?"

"Bastard." Omega hissed.

"Hmpf. Survival of the strongest!"

"Not that again."

"This time enough no "miracles" will happen, Omega. Reality will prevail."

"We'll see about that, defective."

"That applies to you as well." Joker shot back.

"Had enough of this farce! Hah!"

Omega jumped into the air and drew his gun to shoot a plasma blast which pierced through the Navi: its body frizzled and it blew up: pieces of a "Copy Roid" dropped into the ground.

"So?"

"Grrr…! When and where!" Omega hissed.

"In a few days' time. You will know the where then. Farewell!"

"Bastard. So he's forcing us to take part in some stupid fight, must be aiming to stage a show of "you don't trust each other"… And now he uses the hostages as leverage, too! There aren't enough troops yet to carry out a lot of liberations at once, either." Omega grumbled.

"Indeed. We've got our hands tied, unfortunately enough. But we've located a likely place where those two could be at. Preparations for a raid are almost completed." Colonel Talos told them.

"Fine. At least we've got some leads to work with."

"I'm going back to the base. You return here, Shadow Man."

"Roger."

"Keep the program. It might come in handy if that bastard attempts another of his stupid farces."

"Understood."

"We'll be pulling out as well. We'll have to report the situation to the Net Police and the ONB as well."

"Alright."

Miyabi walked out through a side-door and down the emergency staircases: he descended to the street and calmly walked away as police began to gather to the building and to the spot with the Copy Roid remains: Miyabi displayed annoyance.

"I don't mind who gets to take that man down as long as they do it."

"Yes, My Master. Their arrogance will be their downfall."

12:28 AM (Japan Time), Thursday October the 13th…

"… COME AT FULL POWERRR!"

"What's with this giant?"

"Damned shield!"

"Damn it!"

"Gura~h!"

"Eat shotgun!"

"Gugaga~h!"

"We're almost there!"

"Beware! Something's forming from within the trenches!"

"Damn. Defensive walls!"

"And AAC guns atop them, too! Sheesh!"

Sigma was wielding his giant blade and using it to attack a group of enemy troopers that had entered the area where the bullet train was stopped at: an octagonal transparent multi-colored shield deflected most attacks while Blood Shadow countered some enemies that jumped over the barricades with his right arm's shotgun: they then spotted tall and thick metallic walls rising from the trenches surrounding the labor camp with AAC guns atop them.

"Great." Sigma grumbled.

"What do we do now?" Blood Shadow fumed.

"Maybe the walls are thinner than what they seem, even. Bring in the tanks and try firing at the walls!"

"Roger!"

Two "Type-10" battle tanks rolled forward and shot at the walls: their shells pierced through the first of the walls and got embedded on the second of seven walls: the tanks quickly shot again and the new attack did pierce through the second wall.

"Let's keep on trying yet I wouldn't be so confident." One officer told another.

"Roger. Continue on firing!"

The tanks shot again several times: the shells pierced through all walls save for the last one in which the shells exploded inches away from making contact with them.

"Stop! An invisible energy field, huh?"

"And I'm sure that in the next assault same will apply for all walls."

"We could use a sub-generator and reconvert it to suck off the energy and then turn into an attack…" Blood Shadow suggested.

"Or shoot a powerful beam at it for several seconds to overload its capability as well." Sigma suggested next.

"Hum. We've got a prototype beam cannon here… It can only fire for 30 seconds: then it has a 3-minute cooldown…" A high-ranking official discussed with another.

"Let's try it out. HQ, do you authorize?"

"Go ahead. We need field data on the effectiveness of this prototype to begin with so it's a good chance to get it." HQ replied.

"Roger. Bring in the X-7!"

"Roger, sir."

Some troopers pushed forward a cylindrical cannon about 50cm long and 10cm wide colored white and with the text "X-7" colored blue painted on both sides of the body: it was placed on a half-cylindrical support connected to a wheeled platform via two steel columns about 20cm tall: they positioned the cannon as the tanks pulled away and the troopers also did so.

"Preparations are ready, sir." One lieutenant reported.

"Fire at will."

"Roger, sir. Fire!"

The cylinder hummed and shot a thick beam of bluish energy towards the final wall's energy shield: the impact made the whole field become visible and the whole of it began to flicker as the beam continuously tried to push its way inside of it: the whim of machines overloading began to ring out.

"11 seconds before cooldown!"

"Will this do it?" An officer anxiously wondered.

There were some explosions behind the final wall and the energy field shattered like glass: the beam then pierced through the wall and hit the main generator which was placed at ground level on the middle of the field: the main generator was destroyed and the city was freed from the "Dimensional Area" covering it: the cannon hummed and shut down: the officers sighed in relief.

"Strange. I expected that UFO thing to come out." Blood Shadow muttered.

"Were they hoping that the walls would save them the need to?" Sigma wondered.

"We're scanning the skies but there's nothing."

"Odd. We've seen in other assaults that the enemy fights to death. Unless their boss has changed his mind…"

"Maybe he now intends to add a whole occupation force to an existing one in the next city and we'll have to face double the numbers. This way he can overwhelm us with numbers." Blood Shadow thought aloud.

"That makes sense. That Joker man must want to attempt something different each time to make each liberation harder than the one before it… Sheesh."

"Anyway. Let's free the Navis, make the census and send them back. We take a few hours' rest as we wrap up the operation and then we'll be on standby to see if we'll have to come up as reinforcements in the assault to free Maebashi Internet City."

"Let's go, men. But make sure to scan for minefields."

"Yes, sir!"

The troops moved forward while the F-2s patrolled the skies and other squads which had already secured the rooftops began to scan the area: Blood Shadow and Sigma walked closer to the walls and began to examine the holes made by the tank shells.

"They're actually empty inside, huh… Must be an improvisation."

"They're about 30cm thick." Sigma added.

"And about three meters tall, too."

"Sewer team, anything odd down there?"

"Nothing. Apart from the group of Navis who managed to hide in one of the shelters and which we found before the attack then… We're searching the main cave now."

"Good. Search every square inch."

"Roger."

"There's not enough room to hide a whole army down there to begin with so it's highly unlikely that they hid there."

"We've found what seems to be a large-scale emitter that can send many signals at once through a specific frequency which is usually reserved to the ISPs."

"I see. That's how they fled."

"We're breaking the doors of the underground prison area and about to free the prisoners."

"Good. Make sure they're not bobby-trapped or anything like that. Don't lower the guard. The enemy is getting more dangerous with every passing operation, after all."

"The X-7 did a good job. We should move in into trying to optimize it and produce a few more units. They might come in handy for the future operations as well." An official told another other.

"Indeed. The FTL did a good job."

"FTL?" Sigma asked.

"Future Technology Laboratory, which develops technologies for all divisions of the JSDF, sir." A cadet explained.

"I see. And this X-7 is one of their newest inventions, then."

"Yes, sir. Today's the first time it's used in a real battle as well."

"Good. Weapons like these will be useful to handle energy shields and the likes. But the enemy will eventually find a way around these, too."

"Obviously."

"We've broken the doors. Nothing's happened. We're leading the Navis outside. I get the impression with every attack that the Navis are steadily getting more depressed and tired. But then again it's no wonder, since it's been so many days of suffering."

"Indeed. But our analysis reveals that there's a secret instruction in all main generators that allows for their remote self-destruct. So if we could get a hold of it we could disable the Dimensional Areas at once and charge at once without having to take so many hours to get everything ready. The problem will be finding that frequency which I'm sure only their big boss knows." A lieutenant general commented with another.

"I see. So if the man felt like it he could disable them at once. Maybe to let those armies to take over communications hubs… We should keep an eye out for that as well."

"And lame shows as well. That of the Terminator was so lame. Even Virus could've done that." Sigma muttered.

"Oh, sure. Do you copy, Sir Omega?"

"Yeah. I'm keeping watch. Boss is sound asleep, fortunately enough. Insofar nothing's happened. But I don't intend to stop the watch. You two stay for a while until the census ends and the Navis are sent home. The rascal could pull off something at any instant."

"Roger, sir."

"Aye, aye!"

"We've begun the census, sir. Insofar there are no problems, sir. Save for a few that acted out of stress and mistook us for the enemy. But we could calm them down, sir."

"Hum. I see. Well, it can't be helped."

"With this we've got 6 cities freed. We've still got a lot of job ahead of us unless we find that secret frequency…"

"Sheesh. Maybe we should focus on finding that, Blood?"

"Yeah. But it won't be easy either, Sigma. That Joker rascal… He's totally asking for it! This time you're not running away…!"

03:17 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Are you in position, gentlemen?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. B Team, cover the rear."

"Yes, sir."

"C Team and D Team, the flanks."

"Yes, sir."

"We A Team will come in from the front."

"Yes, sir."

Colonel Talos was leading a group of men as he stood inside of the forest close to the house where Eclipse and Miyu were living.

He was dressed in a grey army uniform, although the area around the sleeves and neck was colored in a reddish patch.

He had a distinction on the right side of the uniform just underneath the right shoulder.

His subordinates were dressed in black camouflage clothing and had black face-paint on: they carried flash-bang grenades and modified Beretta M9 handguns.

"Good. Silence now."

The group of five men nodded and slowly circled to the left inside the forest as they approached the house which was silent with all lights save for one over the main door off: the group silently walked over there and one of the men made light with a small flashlight to check out the door's keyhole and the frame.

"Maybe it has a further lock on the inside." He whispered.

"I see. Proceed."

The man drew another tool and made a circular cut to one of the small glass panes of the six-pane grid: he then used a suction pad to take out the glass piece and checked the door's inner side which had a lock on it: he slowly turned it to the left to unlock it.

"It's open, sir."

"Good. Silence from now until I say that you can speak."

The group of five silently entered the house and used the flashlights to inspect the surroundings: a couple of them took position near the stairs leading to the upper floor with Talos and the other two searched the living room: they also inspected the kitchen and a bathroom but found nothing outstanding before returning to the entrance corridor: Talos glued his ear to a wall and frowned: he stepped away a bit and silently examined the wooden wall.

 _I felt wind from a gap… A hidden door, then._

He slowly applied some force with his right hand (covered in a black leather glove) and belt a slight bulge: he kept on inspecting the surface and discovered a small depression that served as grip point: he caught it and then pulled it left to reveal a small room: he and his two men stepped inside and saw the stairs leading to the basement: they climbed down and found an armored door with a window having four bars allowing one to inspect the basement: it was pitch-black.

 _Time for some IR._

He made a gesture with his right hands' index and middle finger while signaling his eyes: he and his men drew IR googles from backpacks they carried and put them on: the surroundings were mostly green and there very faint orange stains inside.

 _Lamps that haven't totally cooled down yet._

He gestured the door and the man from before drew lock picking tools which he used to silently force the door open: the group stepped inside and quickly scanned the area before heading further in to the cell's door: they inspected the door with the IR googles.

 _Two human-sized heat signatures inside. Let's be silent nevertheless. Fortunately enough there's still mobile network so I can send a message to the end up there to get ready to move into the first floor._

He drew a Huawei smartphone and silently wrote a message which he sent: he then motioned for the lock-pick specialist to open the door.

 _Let's secure them and then we can move into catching the other two._

The specialist silently managed to force open the door and the three of them stepped into the cell: Obihiro and Akira were sleeping in each one's respective beds: Talos motioned for his men to secure the doorway while he approached the bunk bed and crouched next to Obihiro.

"Mr. Obihiro. Wake up."

Obihiro didn't react and Talos spotted the remains of the dinner (the usual sandwich and pet bottle) so he seemingly made the connection: he tried placing a hand over Obihiro's right shoulder and shake him but he didn't react either: he drew his ear closer.

 _He's alive, alright. It must be a powerful sleeping drug. Can't be helped. We'll have to carry them out. I didn't see any box with clothing as we searched the rest of the basement so we'll have to use the thermal blankets we brought with us._

He made signals to the men and they brought out thermal blankets which they wrapped around both Obihiro and Akira: they then carried them on their backs and silently left the room: the group returned to the entrance corridor where the other two men had taken positions to both sides of the stairs and were waiting for orders: Talos made a sign with the left hand and they silently and slowly climbed up the stairs taking care that the wood didn't creak: Talos drew the smartphone and looked at footage taken in live by shoulder-mounted cameras.

 _Hum. Two bedrooms, a workspace and a bathroom._

He sent a message to the men via the smartphone and each one headed in different directions.

 _Shoot tranquilizer rounds as soon as contact is established. I know this isn't exactly a very legal operation but we've detected that Joker has been subtly hacking the police network to create contradicting orders and confuse the chain of command. So we couldn't be sure if they'd be able to organize a team to inspect this place. We did warn the Net Police about this operation and they will back us up._

The two men silently entered into the bedrooms but found that there was no-one in either of them and that the beds were cold which mean they hadn't been used in hours.

 _Hum. Had the suspicion. Joker must've realized we were closing in._

"End of radio silence. Targets C&D are not here. They have fled with hours in advance leaving A&B behind. Bring the van. We're going to take these gentlemen to a safe place."

"Roger, sir."

The group left the house just as a black van silently pulled over next to the entrance: another of Talos' men opened the door as they sat Obihiro and Akira in the second row of back seats: Talos sat there with two of this men while the other men took seat in the first row.

"Everyone is on the vans, sir."

"Good. Let us depart. Silently, that is. We go to the central office since we have an infirmary there." Talos ordered.

"Roger, sir."

The van (an electrical vehicle) silently drove away while Talos dialed a number on the phone.

"Chief? C&D had fled in advance but we secured A&B. We're coming to the central office."

"Roger, Colonel."

"How are things like?"

"The JSDF are getting ready for the next mission and they've decided to send in a large force of scout Viruses first since they expected a heavy resistance there."

"Obviously."

"Are the gentlemen alright?"

"They are drugged so they're sound asleep."

"I see."

"How about the U front?"

"Nothing out of place here. We haven't found any traces of our man having been around either physical or digital."

"Hum. But we should keep the surveillance there nevertheless."

"Of course. That was my intention."

"How about Mr. Sponsor?"

"Fortunately enough, he seems to have gotten over his depression. The magazine also admitted that they made a grave oversight in allowing that article to be published. The author of it actually didn't write it but his computer was subtly hacked as well. It has been established that Mr. Sponsor is but a businessman and has nothing to do with "amoral experiments"…" Lezareno explained with a sigh of relief.

"Good. Mr. Sponsor is very talented yet he has some doubts about himself which sometimes impair his capability to handle things efficiently. He's young, after all. We should stand by his side to support him and advise him if the need for it arises."

"Exactly."

"Hum. We're already in the urban expressway. Good. We should reach the office in about 15 minutes. Have the medical personnel ready along with clothes and hot drinks and make sure that the infirmary is heated up to a comfortable temperature." Talos glanced outside and began to see city buildings to the left side.

"They're already in standby. Tonight we'll keep them here and tomorrow we'll escort them to Mr. Obihiro's flat. We've kept the place under watch in case Joker or anyone else attempted to use it as hideout but no-one has come there."

"It was too obvious of a place to begin with. What about Mr. Karida's father and his countryside house? We had already searched the place but there was nothing, right?"

"Indeed. Nothing's changed."

"Good. We will talk once we get there."

"Affirmative."

Talos ended the call and pocketed the phone as he glanced at Obihiro's and Akira's sleeping faces: he sighed and looked outside.

 _Young men suffering too much. As if the stress from society and their expectations of them aren't enough. Fools who try to destroy the future by harming the young men who will become the new generation… Fools, indeed… Your madness won't last much longer…!_


	11. Chapter 11: Recruits

**Chapter 11: Recruits**

07:29 AM (Japan Time), Friday October the 14th…

"… At least Obihiro and his cousin are safe now."

"Yeah. Too bad those two ran away, though… But they won't be able to hide forever, I guess."

"The battle to free Maebashi Internet City was indeed a harsh battle, though. This doesn't bide well."

"Yeah. There were a lot of casualties on the JSDF as well. The enemy was indeed aiming to overwhelm with numbers and guns but the use of Viruses helped turn the tide."

"But nevertheless the next battles will be harder."

"Yeah… Damn! When is this gonna end?"

Netto and Saito were talking as they walked down the street while heading for their middle school: both looked serious and annoyed at the state of things.

"Next will be Nagano Internet City, no?" Netto recalled.

"Yeah. But it'd seem an attempt to free Sapporo and Fukuoka along with Matsuyama… It's daring but we the hope is that the enemy hasn't increased their numbers in there yet… The JSDF Navi production is working 24/7 and the number of troops is increasing, fortunately enough. We'll need them all."

"Obviously."

"Hey. Guys." Meiru met up with them.

"Good morning, Meiru."

"How are things over there, Roll – chan?"

"No – one has bothered us insofar or attempt to steal data from us. We didn't have at hand, anyway."

"Heh, heh, heh! My Guts Man is back at 100%! This time I'll win!"

"Guts, guts! Victory for Dekao, de guts!"

"At least those two are back to their usual self."

"Yeah. That's something."

"Good morning!"

"Hey, Hikawa – kun. Morning."

"Morning, desu!"

"The Princess of Akihara has come!"

"When did you become a Princess, Yaito – sama?"

"Right now!"

"E~h?"

"Kidding!"

"Yaito – sama, ma'am…!"

Dekao, Hikawa and Yaito also joined the group as they neared the middle school: Tomono and Akashi were already there and talking amongst them: their Navis were chatting amongst them as well.

"Morning!"

"Morning!"

"Today we jump and bump!" Rafael grinned.

"What's the point of it?" Tomono and Delta sighed.

"Not bad! Today we run and rum!" Akashi laughed.

"I hear some puns and I dropped by to check them out." Forte's voice rang out from behind Rafael.

"Hey. Boss. What's up?"

"Not much. Bored, in fact. I tried asking Blues and Search Man but they said I'm not authorized to join the "liberation battles". When I asked Blues why he was qualified since he's also a civilian Net Navi… He told me that it's because IPC has good ties with the Ameroupe Army and the JSDF and thus it's more like a favor from the JSDF… When I pointed out about Blood and Sigma he said they made an exception for them since they knew about Joker and could pinpoint some weakness the guy had."

"Well, can't be helped. I also asked Papa but he said that I couldn't."

"You couldn't, either, Hikari?" Forte asked, surprised.

"No. He merely replied "this is competence of the army. Civilian Net Battlers can't get involved."…"

"And here thinking that Gospel Jr. could ram into their files and bring some chaos long enough for the army to finish them off… Instead I've got to sit back and patrol Yoka Yoka Village."

"Grawl. Grrr… Grawl!"

"What's up now?"

"Borte, help me out! Puku! They're coming, puku!" Bubble Man pleaded close by.

"It's "Forte", not "Borte". And who's coming, anyway? The guys you scammed? Then admit guilt and deal with it. You brought that into yourself, you know?" Forte sighed.

"B-but!"

"Grrrr!"

"Uwa~h! Puku~!"

"There goes. Huff."

"The guy doesn't learn, huh?" Delta wasn't impressed.

"The guy should start off a TV show about lame inventions that don't do anything. Or that they're _loco_ stuff. Like that weird inventor from _Pokémon XD_." Rafael laughed.

"Dr. Kaminko, was it?" Netto frowned.

"So it'd seem." Saito was looking it up.

"So much for the almighty "Mecha" Groudon, though. Or like the "huge Sand"… Sand being that cute ground-type mouse Pokémon from the first games, that is." Akashi got amused.

"That joke again? Oh come on. It's a coincidence!" Netto laughed.

"Say, Netto – kun… Did you know that Sand comes to tickle at night? Tickle feet, that is." Saito got cherry all of a sudden.

"Huh? What? Oh no. The glitch mode again?" He asked in a whisper.

"Yessir. Come back from Glitch City… With some awesome PKMN remixes… Like that of the Achroma battle theme… You gotta admit that it's cool, don't you?" He suddenly patted Netto's back.

"W-well, yeah."

"And then we need to invent Glitch Man. A stare from the guy makes the bad guys' back ache and they go mad scratching them."

"Oho. That'd do wonders." Forte chuckled.

"Wouldn't it?"

"Followed by a lame invention by Bubble Man to further increase that aching feeling."

"Bubble Anti Scratch For Though Guys!" Forte laughed.

"Huff." Delta and Tomono sighed.

"Guys will be guys." Meiru muttered.

"Guess that." Roll was unimpressed, too.

"And gals will be gals, eh?" Yaito joked.

"I fail to see the point."

"Yaito – sama…"

"Hmpf! No need for those lil tricks! Guts Man and Dekao – sama will beat 'em up in 3 attacks!" Dekao boasted.

"Guts, guts!"

"Heh, heh! Good, good!" Akashi chuckled.

"Bring it on!" Rafael laughed.

"Well. At least it's helping boost the morale… for now, that is." Meiru muttered.

"Yeah. For now…"

"Maybe we need the Bubble Booster?" Yaito suggested.

"What's it supposed to do, anyway?"

"Boost your bubble gun!"

"And if we don't have one?"

"Then you add it to your _otaku_ collection, my dear."

"Very original." Meiru sighed.

"By the way, did you know?"

"What now?"

"I'm going to be the Scarlet Princess!"

"Oh, sure. Make up a Twitter account with that name, go ahead. You'll soon be sought by those "number-hunters"… That is, those users with tens of thousands of followers who don't seek you to share hobbies but to increase their numbers and look "powerful"…" Meiru challenged with a grin.

"That a challenge? Hah! I accept it!" Yaito got defiant.

"Now, now… You two…" Roll called out.

"OK. Let's get inside." Saito lead the march.

"Huh? Ah! Y-yeah." Netto looked like he'd been spacing out.

"Today we'll learn how to make your hair fancier, Netto – kun!"

"Oh come on. Gimme a break, Saito – niisan."

"Maybe I'll invent a new super gel to achieve that."

"Oh, sure."

"Well. If that helps to boost the morale then it can be tolerated to some extent, I guess." Delta muttered.

"Sure. Well then, I'm off. See ya."

"And now it's time for Dekao – sama to…!"

"Do the homework." Meiru cut him off.

"Yeah, I know…" He lowered the head and sighed.

"Let's not overdo it, either." Tomono warned.

"Yeah. Let's be careful in that aspect, too." Akashi turned serious.

"Oh well. Another day, another mood!"

09:37 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So? Any new ideas, Eclipse?"

"Hmmm… Not really sure…"

"You look like you don't want to do anything ever since the other day."

"Can't be helped, is it? Joker suddenly ring us and tells us to flee because those guys had actually closed on us… And we had to leave out toy-boys behind, too…"

"Better that than being caught in such an anti-climactic manner, no?"

"Guess that, but…"

Miyu was talking to Eclipse as she was sitting on a sofa inside of a living room somewhere and boringly looking at a movie being aired on the TV: Miyu was sitting to her right and Eclipse barely bothered to look at her as she replied in a bored manner.

"And I did warn you not to fall for that provocation. Turns out it had a tracer but it was set to only narrow down the prefecture you were operating from. From then onwards they could just look up physical records and they eventually narrowed it down."

"Sheesh!"

"So?"

"Sheesh!"

"Is that the only thing you can say, Misa?"

"I was wondering when you'd call me by my real name."

"Well, I'm using a nickname to begin with so I thought it was fair to call you by your real name to get your attention."

"Well, you did! Now what?"

"I think that, sooner or later, they'll catch up to us. But before that I'd like to do something I've been wanting to do for some years."

"Huh? What's that?"

Miyu whispered something to Eclipse and she frowned: she looked like she was trying to see the point on it.

"What's the point, anyway?"

"I might not get a second chance to do that so I want to do it now. Before that Joker guy starts up his so-called "tournament of the strongest"… Who knows? Maybe the opponent will be taken aback."

"Taken aback, eh? I'm starting to see the point."

"I knew you would."

"Hmpf… Fine… Maybe I can organize things to do that by tomorrow or Sunday yet… I believe that Joker will start up his show by tomorrow or Sunday, too… So I better think of a location."

"Good. I will handle things on my end, too. I'll ask for some favors to stir up some ruckus…"

Eclipse shut off the TV as Miyu headed further into the apartment: Eclipse, on the other hand, sat on a chair next to the living room's square wooden table and booted up her PC.

"I've got some connections of my own, too… Tee, heh, heh."

She booted up the Skype program and dialed a number as she put on a set of headphones and a mike.

"It's me, Eclipse… Yeah. You owe me one from that other time so I'll go straight to business… Don't worry! It's no big deal. I just want to book the VIP room for… Tomorrow at 10AM. Yeah. I estimate that I'll need for about… 30 minutes. Hmm… Make it 45 minutes just in case. Yeah. Anonymous reservation, of course. Just write down "VIP guests" in the book and that's it." She began instructing someone.

There was a reply and she frowned.

"What was that? You're but a dog that barks and doesn't bite. Don't forget you owe several favors insofar and it's about time you repaid them. Did you forget whom I work for? Huh?"

There was a pause and her mood improved.

"Yeah. Don't forget that "that person" has eyes and ears everywhere. If you don't want the Black Squad to drop by and teach you a lesson through pain then you better do what I say. And you can't call the police because your little business will be exposed, see?"

She grinned again as she looked up a Word file with a list of numbers, dates and names written on it.

"For example… You bought 4 kilos of marijuana to Edara two days ago at 21:50 PM and you paid 65000 Z for them. Well? What do you have to say about this?" She read the latest entry.

She listened to the reply and giggled.

"Do you think you're Edara's only client? He's got tons of them. And Edara is under the control of "that person" so we get to hear about his deals. Di you forget I'm one of the money inspectors, man? I know all the money you've got down to the last Z and what you're using it for. Don't try breaking the rules of the business or the Black Squad will bring you a long and painful demise. These are the rules!"

"Some idiot who wants to play smart?" Miyu came back.

"Oh, sure. No, I'm not talking to you, Takarada! You know the stakes so get me ready the VIP room for tomorrow at 10AM! I will send a messenger to check it out, too! If you don't comply… I'll have no qualms about reporting your attitude to the Black Squad! See ya!"

"What's the Black Squad?" Miyu asked.

"Anaya's elite thugs… A bunch of about 10 underground boxers recruited to go around and give a reminder to those who play smart… They swore loyalty to Anaya and since they were all gay then they were satisfied with being given some guys they could toy with. Not like they knew Anaya was a woman, anyway. Only we women were allowed to know that." Eclipse explained with a grin.

"I see. But wasn't Anaya's business brought down by that Zataki AKA Vadous years ago?"

"Takarada is an idiot who doesn't get a hold of anything and a drug addict to begin with… He was placed in charge of a small locale which works as a cover to launder money… Besides, Vadous didn't make it public that the business went down… He did that in purpose to be able to figure out all the players involved and lure them in with talks about new deals… Since the guy's got the "Committee" on the lookout…"

"I see. By the way. Is Vadous a nickname or is it his real name?"

"Huh? I thought I'd told you already. Vadous is his real name. Zataki Tosho is an alias he made to pay taxes and all and appeal as a mere businessman in the registers."

"But if Anaya recruited him a few years ago then doesn't that mean that Zataki Tosho was his given name until then? And then Anaya gave him the codename Vadous, no?"

"It wasn't intended to be a codename but more like the name he would be known as across the "Secret Empire"… Because, you see…"

He signaled for Miyu to come closer and whispered something to her which surprised her despite that her eyes were hidden by the sunglasses she always wore.

"Really? Anaya was able to do that?" She gasped.

"Oh, sure. Got lucky to find an existing project and be able to repurpose it for her ambitions…"

"I see, I see… But then the "unethical research" talk that Joker tricked the magazine into bringing up… It wasn't a total fabrication?"

"Oh no. Joker knows what he does. There's more to this…"

She whispered something else and Miyu was surprised once again: she looked rather incredulous.

"By all the… And he did all of that just for that guy?"

"Yeah. The other guy wasn't on his initial plans but since he had a spare at hand he decided to make a good use of it."

"Wow and wow."

"But I still feel like there's more to the guy and to that Ryuuhei idiot than Joker is letting out. Maybe he's saving it up as bait to keep me reeled in until the end. Which wouldn't surprise me."

"Surely. I arranged some things on my end, too. I also charged "it" with taking care of some of the preparations, too."

"Excellent. Time's tomorrow at 10AM."

"Good. More than enough time to master some tricks. Not like I expect to have the upper hand but the others will come confident."

"Or maybe not. Maybe we can make them think I've put some trick to the thing and they'll be obsessed with detecting it. Or maybe… They will expect something complicated instead. Just use your same style as always, that should make them believe that there's a trump card ready to be employed… Let's use psychology here… Small and subtle tricks that can influence the opponent's psychology… Like in the _Kindaichi_ files." Eclipse suggested some courses of action.

"I looked at some and I was interested. They are long and the tricks often involve a lot of subtle details… The creativity is pretty big. That game they brought out on the Play Station, though… That was surprising. You can feel the times, though… With so many gruesome scenes…"

"Yeah. That _Hell Park_ game, eh? Multiple paths, time limit, limited movements, limited info… A huge empty map… Struggling to find the key characters to get the key items… That sure is a difficult game indeed. But then there's the 3rd installment which is… odd."

"Odd? In what sense?"

"It's split in four stories… The first story is normal enough but… The second one it turns into a novel game… The third one is pretty normal but the characters' illustrations barely move when speaking… The fourth one is back to normal… They surely spent too much budget on the first and fourth and were forced to tone down the second and third."

"Hum. I see."

"Oh well. That asides… I'll leave around a little something… Something like a time bomb… When it goes off… Nobody will die and nothing will be broken but… A lot of noise will ensue." Eclipse grinned.

"Oho. That type of bomb, eh? Good, good."

"Thanks. I'll get working on it."

"Excellent. I'm going to check if things on my end get ready, too."

"Counting on you…"

Miyu headed back inside of the apartment while Eclipse sneered and began to type into the computer.

"Tee, heh, heh. I won't go without leaving a lil surprise behind!"

19:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So, my friend… Anything new?"

"Ki?"

"I guess none. What about you?"

"Kah! Kah! Kah!"

"Guess nothing, either. Oh well."

"It's been a while."

"That voice…? No way! J-Joker?"

"Indeed. Glad to see you remembered me, Eisei Aaron."

"How couldn't I?"

A teen guy had been standing in the middle of a forest somewhere and talking to a squirrel and a crown until Joker silently appeared from behind him so he whipped around, startled.

The teen, Eisei Aaron was about 16 years old: he was clearly over a meter and sixty centimeters tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His face had a smooth form to it, along with a sharp nose.

He wore sunglasses over his eyes.

His green hair was totally messy and grew until the base of the neck while having a purple-colored plastic piece forming an arch starting over the ears and extending backwards but which didn't contribute to keep the shape but rather seemed to be an accessory to appeal as "cool" and fashionable.

His clothing was something rather new and innovative too and seemed to be self-made.

His shirt's color was a shade of bright gray and it had a partial vest integrated with it colored using two shades of purple, one brighter and one less bright.

The brighter bands of purple ran across the sleeves starting atop the shoulders and extended until the wrists while also drawing an external edge for the partial torso-only vest.

This vest started at the neck and shoulders but only reached until a third across the height of the upper body: seen from the front it had a form reminiscent of the Alphabet character "U" turned downwards by 180 degrees.

His vest also was innovative in the fact that it included two small yellow squares with what could plastic clips colored orange/red attached to their lower end from below.

His pants were plain and didn't stand out too much save for their purplish coloring and the gray knee protections.

He wore fingerless grayish gloves over his hands as well.

The sneakers, however, were designed to incorporated gray soils into them while the main body was white in color: their design was plain and had no Velcro straps or strings plus a thin yellow stripe running across it climbing upwards as seen from the front edge to then climb downwards.

He lastly carried a silver and purple-colored Link PET the emblem of which was a gray-colored spheroid of energy with thunderbolts emerging from it and aiming for all eight cardinal directions: its rim was painted in a black color as well.

"How could you find me?" Eisei nervously asked.

"It wasn't easy. I must admit you surprised me by living in the middle of the forest but then again as the Denpa body you are you needn't food, drink or shelter. Since you're not designed to feel heat or cold, either. You were careful in erasing traces of you and avoiding the Cyber World yet… When inspecting 3G and 4G repeaters I found several deleted records… And the nearest one had a ton of them. So I deduced you often used that repeater to come and go. I then began to scan the forest using invisible agents and Viruses until I found out a while ago." He explained.

"Heck."

"I only want one thing from you… That you take part on the "battle of the strongest" that will be held tomorrow… You and all others are to come at 10:10 AM at Densan Internet City. There you will be told where the arena is at. You're not in a position to refuse."

"Figured as much." Eisei grumbled.

"My predecessor worked little with you but was interested in your sharp mind and abilities… And he was interested in your potential, too… You were able to defeat Forte and that's more than enough proof of it."

"I just happened to catch him with the guard lowered and I was using a _blitzkrieg_ approach to the battle. Else he'd surely beaten me."

"Trying to portray yourself as weak won't save you from your inevitable fate, Eisei… And if you or any of the contestants hold back then there will be consequences."

"Sheesh. Why don't you just come and fight all of us at the same time, huh? Instead of being a coward who hides behind the hostages. You're like a mere gangster."

"Hmpf. I must see with my eyes the extent of you guys' strength… And, also… It'll do for a good show… Everyone will be eager to get a chance to catch me or bring me down… They will prioritize themselves… And to achieve that they won't hesitate to destroy anyone standing in their path… Survival of the strongest! That is the rule of this world!" Joker calmly shrugged.

Eisei hissed something and clenched his right fist: a smug grin formed on Joker's face.

"Indeed. That's what I want you to use as fuel… Anger! Rage! Hatred! The desire to pay back for humiliation and shame! And thus I will prove that those "bonds" you rely upon are but a façade! Solo was right but the fool got side-carried by others' words… If only he'd remained the way he was that'd been the ultimate proof of how you ultimately depend on yourself to survive!"

"Ah! But what if Tabuu comes into the tournament? Then you won't feel so confident, huh?"

"I've taken measures already. I warned Vadous that if he dares to bring Tabuu along there will be consequences. So I've eliminated another potential eyesore. Just like I had Eclipse and her accomplice handle Obihiro and Karida…"

"What a damned coward. But then again you'd always been like that."

"You mean my predecessor."

"Loopholes!"

"You're a successor as well."

"Successor? The original Futaba Hikaru didn't trust me with his will, I'm just an imitation that Virus bothered to come up with. I'm aware that I'm a very well done copy but I'm a copy nevertheless. And what proof do I have that your talk about being "Joker the 2nd" isn't but some crap you've come up with to justify that you didn't go down when you had to? I'm sure you're the same Joker we all know of."

"Think what you must. In the end it matters little." He turned away to head back.

"Sh…!"

"Don't forget. 10:15 AM, Densan Internet City… Else there'll be consequences!"

Joker warped away while Eisei hissed and closed both fists: he unleashed a kick into a nearby tree and cursed something under his breath.

"Damned rascal!"

He picked up the PET and dialed a number.

"Eisei. So you finally contacted me." Vadous replied.

"Yeah. Because that damned giant found me at last and has forced me to join his stupid show."

"Figured he would…"

"Anyway. Is it true that the guy uses the hostages as shield to stop you from bringing Tabuu over?"

"Yeah, damn it."

"I'm sure there's more to that stupid show apart from putting up an act of "in the end there are no bonds and everyone is egoistic"…"

"I guess he wants to take all opposition out in a single sweep. But I've got some trump cards up my sleeves."

"What about those two gals?"

"I haven't located them yet but they hardly matter anymore."

"Guess that. Surely Joker told them to sit back and watch his stupid show unfold. I'm sure he'll have it transmitted in live across the world."

"Yeah. Like he did a while ago… The guy wants to turn society against us and trying to make us look like idiots for trying to help a society that doesn't thank you and outcasts you." Vadous grumbled.

"Yeah. Obviously enough."

"Insofar he's using that special warp ability of Denpa Bodies to move around undetected. I can trace it to some extent but he's changing the frequencies the whole time so I can't completely trace him. But it wouldn't surprise me if he's operating from some satellite to look down on the world and boost up his ego."

"Wouldn't surprise me, either! By the way, speaking of satellites… You made sure to blow up that stupid thing back then, no?"

"Yeah. I told you that that other warmonger jerk was there but we managed to put an end to it. I'd scanned its signature so I could trace any copies… And there seem to be none for the time being. Maybe the fool got arrogant and decided to stake it all back then. Was a stupid defective tool to begin with, anyway."

"Sure was. Full of ego, too."

"Ego will build a Lego castle for ya!" Omega laughed.

"Oh well. Guess let him loose a while instead of having him ill-humored and rambling the whole time…"

"Yo! Been a while, Gray – chan. Did you fight Grey Fox?"

"I don't need to, Omega… Just remember that we're all forced to take part in the guy's stupid show so don't treat me like I was the enemy."

"Of course." He turned serious.

"Fine. We'll see each other tomorrow. Now I need to go training and tune up my abilities. See you."

"Alright. Stay sharp."

Eisei finished the call and grumbled something under his breath.

 _Stupid rascal! This time around we'll put you down! I swear!_


	12. Chapter 12: Royalties

**Chapter 12: Royalties**

09:50 AM (Japan Time), Saturday October the 15th…

"… So this is the place, huh?"

"Yeah. No mistake."

"W-welcome to the Game Center Silver Soul…"

"What's up, mister?"

"N-not used to powerful VIPs actually coming and booking the VIP room… T-the tension…"

"I see. We're also guests of the VIP room. Can you lead us there?"

"O-of course… Please follow me…!"

"He looks like the type that easily gets nervous."

"Sure does."

Netto, carrying his PET, stepped into the main room of a game center where several Net Battlers were training: a man on his 40s that looked like the manager greeted him while nervously sweating and wiping off the sweat with a handkerchief: once Netto said he was a VIP room guest he nervously nodded and guided him towards a plain door labelled "staff only".

"T-that person is waiting inside, sir… So… I will e-excuse me myself, sir. Everything is on place already, sir…"

"Thank you."

"It's n-nothing… If y-you'll excuse me…"

He unlocked the door with a key he had in his suit's inner pocket and Netto stepped inside before he left: Netto walked forward into the room decorated with velvet curtains and a chandelier recreation using modern bulbs instead of candles: two red leather armchairs were placed at both sides of the table where the Net Battling machine (shaped like a dome) was set at.

"Oho! Cool!"

"Enzan – kun sure found a neat place to train!"

There was also a side-table next to each armchair which had some potato chips and pineapple juice served along with a plastic water bottle: peanuts were also placed inside of a bowl.

"Ah. And there's an exclusive restroom too."

He spotted a couple of doors on the left wall labelled with the red and blue signs to tell each gender's toilet apart.

"I guess Enzan is using it so let's wait for him to come out."

"Ta-ta-ta-dan!"

"What was that?"

"Dunno… Eh? Eh…? E~H?"

"A-aren't those…?"

A fanfare rang out and the curtains on the northern wall to both sides of the armchair slid away to reveal cardboard-made figures of Kazefuki Arashi (Air Man's Operator), Hayami Daisuke (Quick Man's Operator), Cut Man, Dark Miyabi, Princess Pride (Knight Man's Operator), Gauss Magnets (Magnet Man's Operator) and Freeze Man.

"T-the Gospel members? But who would…?" Netto gasped.

"Welcome, Hikari Netto… To Gospel's rebirth party!"

"T-that voice… No way…!"

The curtain behind the northern armchair opened and Gospel Shuryou stepped out of there while extending the arms wide: Netto began to shudder and his eyes displayed panic: he quickly ran for the entrance door yet it was locked with key: he began to bang it but it didn't make any noise at all.

"I don't want to die! Mister! Open up! Mister!" He hysterically called out.

"C-calm down, Netto – kun! That's a trick! It can't be the same man of years ago! You know that!"

"B-b-b-but!" Netto nervously stuttered.

"Who the hell are you?" Rock Man demanded.

"So the info was correct. I didn't doubt it yet… This reaction IS amusing."

"It's got to be you, Joker!"

"Wrong. I'm not Joker. But there's a reason to this set-up. Because I'm related to Gospel." The imitator shrugged.

"One of the lesser members?"

"Lesser? Oh, dear. Far from that." The imitator's form of speaking changed to that of a woman.

"Eclipse, then."

"Close!"

"Her accomplice, that unknown woman named "Miyu"!"

"Yep! Bingo!"

The figure of Gospel Shuryou vanished to reveal Miyu standing there while carrying a black Link PET on her right hand aiming to the ground so the emblem and screen couldn't be seen.

"What did you to Enzan – kun?" Rock Man demanded.

"He was never here. We used his name to lure you in and make sure you'd come without an escort. Those "Committee" guys don't seem to have learn the lesson from the summer, eh?" She mocked.

"Grrrr!"

"… W-what the… So it's not t-that guy…" Netto nervously muttered yet he still couldn't shake off his fear.

"Of course I'm not. But I'm a ghost of the past nevertheless."

"You're bluffing."

"Oh, dear. How can you be so sure of it?"

"All Gospel members were arrested and are in jail."

"Save for Gray – chan, that is."

"Obihiro w-was the v-victim… W-Wily's to blame…."

"Oh, sure. Gray – chan got into such a fit of rage when I commended him for his career… And not to mention that nightmare he had one day…"

"Nightmare?" Rock Man frowned.

"A nightmare in which he was holding a gun and looking at someone with bullet wounds who was unconscious, bleeding and looked like he was dead, that he'd killed that someone without realizing…"

"And?" Rock Man wasn't impressed.

"And seeing your Operator's reaction, Rock – chan… I can assemble the pieces together! Both of you fear that fateful day of years ago… You thought you were going to die… And Gray – chan thought he'd killed you, Hikari…" She concluded.

"W-what of it! T-that's l-long ago!"

"Get to the point already." Rock Man demanded.

"Oh, sure."

She walked behind the figure of Princess Pride and did something when she was out of view: she walked out from the left and then faced the front while both Rock Man and Netto gasped.

"Y-you're…!"

"Been a while!"

It turned out that "Miyu" was actually Princess Pride: she held a black wig on her left hand along with the cap and the sunglasses: her PET was aimed at the front and Knight Man's emblem was visible.

"B-but…? The Officials caught you back then!"

"Oh, they sure did! But you seem to have forgotten one thing. I am the Princess of Cream Land. A foreign diplomat! Diplomatic immunity! And, besides… The State Department of Ameroupe came forward and told them to allow me to go back to my nation… "This pretty princess beat you in your silly kids' game and now you want to bully her? We'll have none of that. Release her or we're shutting down your stupid computer geeks club!"… That's what they told the Officials, see!"

"E~H?" Both were baffled.

"Back then… And even now… There are still sections of the bureaucracy dissatisfied with how so many resources were deviated to the Officials and they got relegated… So they apologized to me in behalf of the government and booked me a first class seat back to home."

"By all the…"

"This is the real world, kids! You don't know how envious bureaucrats can become of each other's' orgs… So I got back home in less than 7 days and I've spent most of the time doing my official duties and such… Until my old friend Eclipse from the exchange school age approached me and suggested we have fun together. Mother gave me the go-ahead, too. And thus I've come here to have fun. I was getting tired of having to play with pro masochist men porn actors who only pretended to feel the pain. I wanted a more and purer reaction! And Eclipse provided it. I'm satisfied yet… I felt like I could take profit of the state of things to have a rematch with you, Hikari… And thus we set this up."

"Hell." Netto had mostly calmed down by now.

"And this room isn't only sound-proof, it's also designed to block incoming and outgoing signals, too! So not even I can communicate with the outside and the manager won't bother to come back until 10:45 AM. Eclipse knows of this guy's "extra" business and could easily coerce him to lend us this room."

"And we fell for the trap like novices." Rock Man grumbled.

"Eclipse was right in suspecting you were expecting to finish that match with Ijuuin that you couldn't do some days ago… So she decided to use his name as an answer to your expectations… Besides… I think that those "Committee" guys will soon have their hands busy."

"But if I don't get to Densan Internet City before 10:15 AM then the hostages…!" Rock Man argued.

"Oh, you needn't worry. Joker contacted us yesterday and it'd seem he sniffed our little game. He approved of it since he was planning on announcing that you were an exception and that you needn't take part in the tournament. You're the "hero", after all. Your role is to stand up where others fall and make a difference! And he thought we'd do well to heat you up a bit before the real deal."

"That jerk!" Rock Man hissed.

"That'll give some fuel to the others, too!"

"Fuel? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you'll eventually figure out! My dear. Alright. This time no presents from the girlfriend will help you out."

"G-girlfriend…? M-Meiru is just my childhood friend!" Netto blushed.

"Who's got some interesting hobbies, eh?"

"T-that's…"

"You know what she does with that Hikawa guy, no?"

"W-well…"

"So don't come say she's the purest of women out there, OK? Because you aren't the purest of men, either! You like having sex with Rock Man there, after all."

"That's none of your business!" Netto grumbled.

"OK. Enough chit-chat, my dears. Let's get down to action. Try to beat my Knight Man and I will let you off the hook."

"Hmpf! Piece of a cake!"

"Don't get confident, Netto – kun." Rock Man scolded.

"We've beaten the guy twice already, we can beat him again."

"Don't lower the guard."

"I don't need you to remind me that!"

"Calm down."

"Sheesh! Fine, fine! Plug In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"

"Plug In! Knight Man, Transmission!"

Both Operators sent their Navis into the machine and it activated thus displaying the hologram of the arena: Rock Man looked at Knight Man's eyes.

"It has been a while, Rock Man… I would rather not use such dishonorable methods but I must obey the Princess… That is the reason why I was created… Let us go. Without grudge."

"Fine. Let's go, then."

"Rum amok, Knight Man! Tee, heh, heh!"

"Battle Operation, Set!"

"In!"

"Royal Wrecking Ball!"

"Huh! He's fast!"

Knight Man suddenly spun on his axis and jumped: the energy of the spin allowed him to move forward while swinging the wrecking ball around his body: Rock Man had to move to the left to dodge and he turned around to see Knight Man bounce against the ground and jump drawing a long arch skywards to then drop back on his initial position: the tremor momentarily made Rock Man lose his footing but he recovered and was able to keep his footing.

"Battle Chip, Gold Fist! Double Slot In!"

"Gold Fist! Hrah!"

Rock Man jumped at Knight Man as he built up energy on the fists: he punched the torso's armor but Knight Man was unfazed: he merely lifted the right arm and shot the wrecking ball which hit Rock Man fully and propelled him upwards diagonally: he managed to separate from it and land back on the ground yet Knight Man had begun another spin and was coming for him at top speed.

"Yukashita! (Drop down)!"

A hole formed on the ground and Rock Man dropped inside in purpose to avoid the attack by Knight Man who repeated the earlier maneuver and got back to the starting spot: Rock Man emerged from the hole.

"Drill Arm, Double Slot In!"

"Drill Arm! Hra~h!"

Rock Man tried the drills next but they barely were able to scratch Knight Man's armor: he jumped over him before he could shoot the wrecking ball and tried attacking the legs from behind and he managed to pierce through one of the layers of armor: Knight Man jumped a step forward and quickly spun to face Rock Man: he lifted his arm and then brought it down to create a shockwave with the wrecking ball.

"Air Shoes!"

Rock Man hovered to dodge but Knight Man shot the wrecking ball at him: he was sent flying southwards: he managed to drop to the ground and groaned as he rubbed the spots harmed by the spikes.

"Recovery 50, Slot In!"

"Recovery 50!"

"Same here! Recovery 50, Slot In!"

"Recovery 50…"

"Drills only work on the legs and fists don't work… What do I do? My folder was designed to face Blues so there's a lot of swords, too… And I didn't bother to bring the Chip backpack either…" Netto was starting to sweat.

"Guess we'll have to try Program Advances and Charge Shots."

"Guess that. Now that we no longer have Style Change… It got overwritten by Cross Fusion, sadly enough… And I didn't bring "it" either…"

"You needn't the Chip itself to activate it, though. It's already installed on my body so I can bring it out anytime." Rock Man corrected.

"Ah! I see. But I'd rather save it up as a last resource. You know it drains a lot of body and mental strength…"

"Of course."

"Interesting, interesting…" Pride was amused.

"But then again back when we faced Knight Man at the Ameroupe Castle I didn't have a custom folder either… We had to improve with what we had at hand…" Netto was recalling.

"Yeah. I remember. So we'll have to do just like back then."

"Yeah. Guess that. Let's go for Program Advances, then… Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Slot In!"

"Dream Sword!"

"Interesting! Knight Man! Don't block: it'll do good to test the strength of your armor!"

"As you wish, my lady."

Knight Man, following Pride's orders, stood still as the Dream Sword hit him fully: he grumbled as he felt the energy blow on his body until it dissipated: a visible dent had formed on his armor along with some cracks: Pride was looking at some information pop-ups.

"Hmmm… Armor integrity down to 35%! That was more powerful than I expected it to be. I expected for about 50% to remain. Oh well. Recovery 200, Slot In!"

"Recovery 200!"

"Heck."

"What? Is there a rule that forbids me from using Recovery Battle Chips? Those "Ghostlar" Viruses carried Recovery Chips with them, no? Y'know, those little ghost-like Viruses that drop Invisible Battle Chip data. If they can, then I can do the same! No?" She argued.

"W-well, guess that." Netto didn't have any good counter-arguments.

"We've got 500 HP and Knight Man has the same numbers yet his armor can reduce damage by 25%... So the Dream Sword delivered 375 points of damage instead of 500… And if he uses his "Stone Body" ability then the damage reduction increases to 50%... So we need to attack when he's not using Stone Body yet… Even Dream Sword 3 would lack some power to bring him down…" Rock Man analyzed.

"Charge Shot max power is 50 points of damage but with that armor it'll go down to 37.5 points of damage, too. 450 plus 37.5… 487.5… We'd need two Charge Shots in a row but he can recover before we have a chance to load up the second Charge Shot…" Netto sighed.

"I wouldn't stake it all on "it" either because its power might go down due to that damage reduction, too."

"In short. We're in a tight spot." Netto admitted.

"Yeah. And it's not like they're being unfair, either. Knight Man's armor has improved ever since the Gospel crisis but it was pretty strong back then as well…"

"Heck."

"Tee, heh, heh. All too used to opponents who don't bother to heal!"

"I hate to admit it but it's the truth." Netto sighed.

"Maybe we'll have to bet on "it", after all. I don't like staking it out in one thing but… And we'd be providing Joker with accurate data on it so he can come up with a way to counter it, too!"

"Hell! What do we do?"

"Wish I knew."

"If you're going to struggle so much against a little fry like me then I'm pretty sure Joker will wipe the floor with you on it before 5 seconds have passed." Pride shrugged.

"Ugh…! F-focus! I need to focus!"

"Fine. I'll pity you and stop recovering. Now go on and try your desperate strategy. But you know… "Light's hope only lasts for an instant"…" Pride made an exasperated sigh before suddenly snickering.

"Program Advance! Flame, Aqua, Elec Sword! Slot In!"

"Dream Sword 3!"

"Go~!"

Rock Man roared as he attacked thrice with the multi-element blade and left three distinct wounds on Knight Man's body: he quickly loaded up a Charge Shot and shot it at Knight Man who flinched and dropped to his knees, weakened: Rock Man loaded another Charge Shot and aimed at Knight Man's head yet when Knight Man directed his still eyes at him he suddenly froze and stopped charging: Pride retrieved Knight Man.

"I… can't do it. I can't… shoot someone like that…"

"Can't be helped, Rock Man…"

"Alright… It's about time to move into the main dish."

Before Netto could ask what Pride meant, Eclipse suddenly snuck on him from behind and placed a cloth over his mouth: Netto struggled but lost consciousness, collapsing on her arms: she quickly picked his PET and retrieved Rock Man before shutting it down not giving him time to react.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's see what stuff you're made of, Hikari…"

"Sure. We'll see why Anaya wanted these two for her so badly. Heh!"

10:40 AM (Japan Time)…

SMACK!

 _Wha!_

"About time you woke up… Guess I overdid it with the chloroform, did I? Oh well. But all's set up now."

 _What the…? Damn it! Eh? E~h?_

Netto woke up when he felt someone smacking his right cheek: he steadily regained consciousness and he realized that he was set in the same situation Obihiro and Akira had been at: naked, with the S&M leather stuff on him, and tied to a cross.

Eclipse was standing before him but he could see over her shoulder that Saito was in the same situation as him in another cross facing south and set on the furthest wall.

The place was similar to the basement of the house Eclipse and Pride had been at but it was a bit smaller in overall size.

Eclipse and Pride wore their "dominatrix" attire and both held rolled up whips on their hands.

"We'll see what makes you so special, Hikari… To the point Anaya wanted you as her personal slave…"

 _Personal slave? Me? Hell. No wonder Vadous – san brought her down from her bloodstained throne._

"Not only, you. Your big bro, too… And you guys' girlfriends… And that Hoshikawa guy and the guy's girlfriend, too!"

 _E~h? How does she know about Hoshikawa?_

"Joker was glad we came up with something to keep you busy during the tournament so to repay that favor he told me what I wanted to know. About why that stupid Ryuuhei vanished off the radar every then and then… And from where those weird guys who showed up back in St. Valentine's days had come from… And about those "Death Club" guys as well… Fascinating, indeed! Now I see why not even we women were allowed to see any calendars or clocks while on the "Palace"… And why sometimes new women's speech manners were different…"

 _That Anaya sure was a greedy woman who never had enough with anything!_

"But the deal is that we only keep you here for some hours' time until the tournament wraps up… We don't want to test the limits of his patience so we're going to do as he says… Consider yourself lucky!"

 _That damned rascal!_

"Heh. My hunch was correct. Forcing you to Net Battle after reviving your worst nightmare made you lower the guard… Ah. And if you expect the "Committee" guys to find us… I'm afraid they and everyone else will soon be too busy to spare time and resources on finding you."

 _What does that mean?_

"Well then, Pride. Which one do you want to try out first?"

"I'll have Rock – chan as first dish." She closed her right hand around his jaw and grinned.

"Sure. Then I'll have Hikari. You're used to gay sex and gay BDSM but I guess this must be the first dominatrix experience. Good. I'll teach you how we dominatrix can be way more effective at training men. To the point you'll ask Sakurai to add you to her roster of masochist men wishing for a dominant woman to train them." She laughed.

 _Like I'll do that. It's not like I'm against Meiru and Hikawa's roleplaying because it's a mutual agreement but I'm not going to butt into their pact… Shut up and do us a favor!_

"Ah. In case you were wondering… Yeah, I've been a dominatrix for years and already was when we met in Amerouppe! Mother said that her daughter had to be a strong woman who could make submit to her and make sure they learnt their place so she organized things for me. Mother's insight is unrivaled, after all." Pride laughed.

 _What's with Cream Land? A queen that allows her daughter to become a sadist and a saboteur…? Sheesh._

"So let's see what stuff you're made of, Rock – chan. Tee, heh, heh."

Pride stuffed her strap-on into Saito's ass and he instinctively closed his eyes from the pain.

"Good feeling, yeah… And that face when in pain… I'm starting to see why Anaya was so obsessed with adding you to her roster…"

"Yeah. They have good bodies yet I guess she liked the idea of grabbing heroes and heroines and teaching them that that was their fate: to become slaves of a mighty queen."

Eclipse stuffed her strap-on into Netto's ass and he also closed his eyes instinctively as he felt it brush against his ass' insides and plunging deeper and deeper inside.

 _Damn. This thing is designed to hurt you, isn't it? Now I prefer guys' cocks to this thing! I guess Meiru must use a model that doesn't hurt instead!_

"Hmm… Good feeling, yeah. It's obvious you're used to taking stuff inside of your ass, yeah. Tee, heh, heh. Let's play a bit!"

She spotted how Netto's cock (having that vibrator placed on it like Obihiro and Akira) had gotten hard so she flung the whip and had it coil around its length to then start to pull it: Netto arched slightly backwards from the feeling of pain.

"Maybe I can pull it off? Kidding! Tee, heh, heh."

 _D-damn it!_

"Let's heat you up, then!"

She picked a candle and a lighter from a nearby shelf and lighted it up before she began to drop hot wax on his body: Netto reacted whenever he felt a drop of hot wax dropping on his skin.

 _Hot! Too hot!_

"Heh, heh, heh. Good, good. That's what I want to see: genuine pain and not some acting… Ah! I can't have enough." Pride was laughing in the meanwhile.

"Use Plan P!" Eclipse suggested.

"Oh, sure!"

 _What "Plan P"?_

"I'll make it feel to you, too! Here!"

SMASH!

 _OUWAH! PAIN!_

Eclipse suddenly punched his balls with the right fist and pain spread from there: Netto violently arched as he struggled with the restrains keeping him in place: he tried to hold on and managed yet he also felt like his strength was draining: he ended up losing his rigid pose and collapsed, inwardly panting.

"Too much pain, even? Guess that Ryuuhei idiot was unable to make you feel pain like this. Talk about an idiot indeed."

 _Guh…! The guy was a psycho to begin with…! A deluded pawn who thought he was the ultimate…! And he could only imitate that Dr. Septimus guy to begin with!_

"Tee, heh, heh. Good, good…! You look so powerless and miserable… Charming, indeed!"

 _S-shut up…_

"What. Already out of energies? What a disappointment. I thought you were more diehard than a cockroach."

 _Cockroach? Me? SHEESH!_

"Hit a vibe, eh? Good, good… And don't expect to break those by miracle or something like that. I don't make blunders like that Ryuuhei idiot. Or like Anaya and her megalomania which led her to leave a mark indicating her hideout in plain sight."

 _Guh…! That was megalomania, yeah, but…! Don't switch topics…! I'll see to it! That you end up in jail! For making so many suffer!_

"Oho. You're starting to show some stubbornness on your eyes. Well, Pride must've already said it but… "Hope's light only lasts an instant, you know?"…" She sneered.

 _Stop quoting Magnadeus_ _the whole time! You can't come up with something clever on your own and you steal the guy's lines!_

"Maybe we should ask Colonel Olrik about how to make a quick escape from a tight spot."

 _Sheesh. It's true that we've been reading the Blake & Mortimer comic books and that Olrik is always running away but… That's unrelated!_

"Tee, heh, heh… What could I do next? Oh, I know. I have a lovely play in mind… We'll do that in a while. Tee, heh, heh."

"Sounds like you've got a plan on mind."

"Oh, sure. The table!"

"Table? Ah! I see. Just like we did with those two…"

 _What table? What else did you to Obihiro and his cousin?_

"We'll place both of you atop a table in six-nine position so you can suck each other's cock while we fuck your asses. So at least you won't feel lonely. Tee, heh, heh." Eclipse let out.

 _Sheesh! It's stupid! Damn it! Just get lost!_

"Rock – chan's glare looks like it could bring down an Indian elephant just by glaring at its eyes." Pride laughed.

"Guess that. Gotta love the obsession Game Freak has Indian elephants to the point most of the first Pokémon Encyclopedia entries in the first games talked about Indian elephants." Eclipse giggled.

 _I knew that! Don't switch topics! I want this stupid farce to end!_

"Tee, heh, heh. Let's switch, Pride."

"Sure. See ya, Rock – chan. Ada Wong will come to visit you!"

Pride and Eclipse changed places: Pride closed her right hand around Netto's jaw and snickered while Netto directed a glare filled with anger to her but she didn't flinch.

"Good, good. Anger is good. It gives you puny hope. Which is then quickly crushed away. You're so sought, man. That old man wanted to have you, too, right? Thankfully his handsome son stopped the guy."

 _You mean Enzan's father. Sheesh. Who'd said he was a_ shotacon _? And that he wanted to take me from Enzan to deny him what he wished the most?_

"But, really! That handsome totally fell for my little game and then degraded your handsome bro calling a mere Virus… Let's go!"

She stuffed her strap-on inside of Netto and he inwardly hissed.

 _I won't lose hope! You're going down! And Joker is next!_


	13. Chapter 13: Monopolies

**Chapter 13: Monopolies**

11:33 AM (Japan Time), Saturday October the 15th…

"… Flamethrower!"

"Laser Guns!"

"Dream Sword!"

"Mugen Vulcan!"

"Screen Divide!"

"Shirahadori!"

"Shadow Blade!"

"Holy Shock."

"Earth Breaker!"

"Z-Saber!"

"Sigma Sword!"

"Sword Fighter X!"

"Plasma Gun!"

"Elec Sword!"

"Hmpf. Don't forget the rules… You will fight until one of you remains with more than 10 HP… Those whose HP is lower than 10 will be automatically sent away from the arena. And if you don't bring out the whole of your power then I'll order an execution squad to shoot a bunch of 50 Navis in one of the cities I control! So fight! Only one of you can challenge me. Let's see if you're better than Mr. Hero who can sit on the VIP box and watch it unfold…"

Beta X, Rafael, Blues, Search Man, Colonel, Delta, Shadow Man, Serenade, Forte, Zero, Sigma, Blood Shadow, Omega and another Navi were all fighting each other in the middle of an arena shaped after the colosseum in Rome.

Joker was sitting in a crimson marble throne set in platform that was built higher in the northern wall and from which he could oversee the arena: the platform was surrounded by "Dimensional Area".

The seats of the coliseum were filled with high-ranking officials of Joker's "Force 2204" who were excitedly muttering amongst themselves and some seemed to be making bets as well.

The whole coliseum was set in a Cyber World somewhere decorated with the old golden Roman specter having the eagle and the initials "SPQR" set below it.

"You too, Gray Thunderbolt… Dare not betray the Caesar!"

"You think you're funny! Beta X is the one who said "fuck you" to that Septimus wannabe who called himself "Caesar" to begin with! Stop pretending you're Julius Caesar!"

Gray Thunderbolt, a Navi fighting Sigma with an Elec Sword, grumbled as he glanced at Joker for a second.

Gray Thunderbolt's face skin color was a dull olive green – like coloring and a faint black and thin line drawing of an electrical current's spectrum shaped like a triangle formed on the SW and SE corners of his face and climbed past the note until they ended slightly beneath the forehead's helmet edge.

The eyes' irises were of a blood red color.

His hair was orange-colored and spread out from behind the helmet in a wild flock manner reaching until the base of his neck.

The helmet's design was peculiar: it had a form seemingly made out of a spheroid's upper half and its main color was gray: the center of it had a drawing which could be interpreted as an arrow pointing downwards which also had two small triangles popping out of the sides.

If seen from above and looking from north to south it could be a cutaway silhouette of a tree as well: a golden-colored plain horn formed on the middle of the drawing and aimed upwards.

The ear-pads had two parts: they began as simple gray metallic disks attached half-way between the upper helmet and the sides of the rest of the helmet: then a dome formation sprouted from there and had a small hole cut atop it.

The sides of the helmet included two slightly curved triangles colored orange spanning past the lower jaw by a few centimeters.

His neck was protected by circular gray bands stacked one atop the other with a total of three plus a wider circle at the base of the neck.

Regarding the chest armor, it could be described as simplistic: the color of choice was gray again and the only noticeable things on it were two cavities cut on the center of it shaped after diamonds: they were red on the inside and there was a very thin black line cutting through them spanning half-way across the chest.

His arms were covered by a peculiar golden armor which seemed to reinforce their strength: each shoulder had a soup bowl – like shape along with the cover set over it: a golden horn spread from the center of the cover.

The armor then continued with a slight division drawn half-way the arm located between the shoulder and the elbow: the elbow segment happened to have a circular piece from which a curved fin aiming towards the shoulder emerged.

This elbow armor could be divided in four different segments: the first one was a little piece of golden armor in the form of a circle's lower half.

It was continued by a set of three half-circular metallic bands spreading downwards until the start of the wrist.

A screw bolt's head was set half-way between the lower and upper halves of the elbow armor: a black cross was drawn on it (or rather the grooves where a screw driver would be set at) and a straight black line travelled forward from the eastern edge until the wrist.

The last part of the complicated elbow armor included the aforementioned fin.

A small segment of golden armor covered the little space between the elbow and the wrist.

The wrist and part of the hand were encompassed by one featureless metallic black circle from which his usual five fingers (covered in golden "skin") came out.

The body below the chest armor was rather plain: a central vertical stripe which contained the helmet's pattern towards the end as it reached the waist spot.

This stripe was painted gray expect on the outer edges where the color switched to purple and ran down the sides of the body including the inner surface of the legs: the outer surface was colored gray too.

His peculiar boots began just at the knee's height and had a customized design which looked like some attempt at being "futuristic" for some reason or another: their color was gray.

The reason why his boots looked peculiar was because they had a descending triangle-shaped ramp running until the ankles and with three golden buttons set in a vertical manner one atop the other near the end of the piece.

The ankles' armor was built in the manner of three purple trapezes set one over the other: the soil of the boots was also designed to have a trapeze form and painted gray.

There was something which looked a recent addition, though, and that was an emblem on the forehead which was the same depicted in Eisei's own Link PET.

"Out of the way, Zero! That guy is mine!" Delta hissed.

"Calm down." Zero calmly replied.

"I don't care if you're some king, that guy is mine!" Rafael hissed.

"You are dancing to that man's pace." Serenade wasn't impressed.

"Guah!" Search Man groaned.

"Kuh! I didn't expect that PA but that doesn't stop me!" Forte hissed after he managed to hit Search Man.

"Kuh! That Dream Sword had technique to it… But you left yourself open for attack, Blues!"

"I don't know much about you, Colonel, but…! I won't lose to some foreigner come to steal our merits!" Blues hissed.

"I don't have anything with ya, Gray, but ya know what's up."

"I know that. I've got nothing against you, either."

"Huff. I don't feel like dancing to that guy's tune, sir, but…"

"Can't be helped."

"Good, good… Hmmm?"

Joker glanced at a holographic screen displaying the insides of an enclosed Internet City: a gigantic "Remote Gate" had formed and one of the JSDF's cyber trains rushed inside at top speed.

"Hum. I see. So they managed to improve Gate Man's "Remote Gate" to send the train in without having to hit the Dimensional Area from the outside or send it in packages… I didn't include the man on the list because he looked so weak in all records… Oh well. It will give some more "dramatism" to the situation. I've still got about 40 cities under my control, anyway." He calmly muttered.

He resumed looking at the fight going on in the arena and looked mildly displeased.

"Hmpf… Vadous' dogs… They're not fighting seriously… Maybe they need a reminder…"

He stood up and walked over to the edge.

"You four… You're not fighting seriously. Does that mean you don't mind what happens to those weaklings?"

"Kuh…!" The four of them hissed.

"Imagine you're fighting those clowns you've fought insofar and that will motivate you. Won't it? This my first and final warning! Try another trick like that and the first 50 will be executed. Ah. You plan on saying "we can rebuild them later", no? Of course you can, yet… That would be running away and pretending nothing happened, right? Won't the other survivors lash out at them for trying to escape the pain and not shoulder it like they do? Huh?" Joker snickered.

"You are indeed mad." Serenade fumed.

"Hmpf. Ah. But not all heroes are stable, either! "The people who go down in history as its heroes are never stable."… Your precious ally Colonel Talos tells you as much."

"Sheesh. You're just bringing up that he resembles Sergei Vladimir from _Biohazard: The Umbrella Chronicles_!" Forte grumbled.

"Whatever. Oh well. I'm going to send the order…"

"Sh… Darkness Overload!"

"Gray Thunderbolt!"

"Sigma Punch!"

"Hrah! Hah! Hyah!"

"Huh! Charged shogun shot!"

"Good, good… Heh, heh, heh. Prove to your precious "hero" what you can actually do."

He looked over his right shoulder as a modern VIP box placed higher in the structure a figure could be distinguished sitting on the inside.

"The guy! So much for "let's fight together"!" Delta hissed.

"Yeah! What a jerk!" Rafael growled.

"You two. Stop complaining. What guarantee do you have that it's not a psychological trap?" Serenade sighed.

"Shut up! Let's go beat that rascal first! Out of the way, Sigma!"

Both ran towards Sigma and Gray Thunderbolt: both sighed in exasperation as they began to fight them as well: Sigma held the sword on the right hand and punched with his left fist with Gray Thunderbolt had Elec Swords on both forearms: Delta was using Bamboo Swords while Rafael was shooting Mega Cannons at them.

"Good… How about there?"

He spotted Beta X exchanging shots against Search Man as Forte was also fighting both because he apparently wanted to beat Search Man: Blues and Colonel had gone for Serenade who was countering their attacks.

"Hmmm… Nah. I did well on leaving those two, Dark Man and Yamato Man out. They didn't met my standards. I see that each and some other weaklings are joining the Internet City battles… The JSDF fools have finally gotten impatient and are allowing civilians into their battles… Hah. Let them destroy each other! Fools." He began to oversee several screens at the same time.

"3500 on that Serenade guy!"

"4000 on that Forte guy!"

"Hum. Betting is increasing. Oh well. It'll do well for the morale of the troops. They have tons of money to use, after all." Joker calmly muttered as he spotted his officers betting.

A vibration rang out nearby and he picked up a recreation of an iPhone which was atop the right armrest: he interacted with it and calmly nodded in agreement at the messages in the screen before placing it back on the armrest.

"Good… The other front will soon wrap up the main goal but the secondary goals are still active. Hmpf. Those two had a good plan indeed. I must admit I didn't have any idea of how to keep the humans busy in the meanwhile…" He muttered with some satisfaction.

He looked at the arena: a trapdoor opened beneath Search Man and Rafael's feet (both had been beaten up by Forte) and they fell into holes before they closed: Blues and Colonel followed suit soon afterwards and Joker shrugged.

"Good, good… It'd seem they're finally getting serious. Hmpf. But the best is yet to come… Like Liquid Snake would say… "Not yet! It's not over yet!"… Let's see who'll be the last survivor…"

Forte shot a Darkness Overload at Serenade and he used his lances behind him to curve it at shoot it back at him but Forte jumped to the right to dodge and drew his Hell's Buster to shoot Serenade in a row yet he dodged or blocked most of the attacks before shooting a Holy Shock attack to counter: Forte tried to rush in during the opening but Serenade punched him on the lower jaw before shooting another Holy Shock which kicked Forte away: he hit the ground and the trapdoor opened to drop him below the arena: same happened to Rafael yet Delta was still standing: Blood Shadow and Omega were fiercely clashing but they hadn't run out of energies yet.

"Hmpf. Pity. I expected anger to get the best of Forte and he would run amok. I guess Serenade saw it coming which is why he decided to beat him immediately… Oh well. Maybe I can still provoke Omega and force him to bring out his "butcher mode"…" He muttered with slight disappointment.

"Lord Joker, those guys are starting to say that things should've been in the inverse, sir…" A General appeared right of the stage.

"Hmpf. I have no control whatsoever regarding the order the combatants are defeated. Men! Don't disappoint me…" He called out to the whole audience as his voice boomed across the coliseum.

All fell silent as if expecting Joker to punish them for their behavior but Joker merely made a gesture indicating them to resume what they had been doing: the area got noisy again.

"Huh? Hum. Delta has fallen as well. And so did Blood Shadow, too. I guess he was indeed a mere shadow of the "hero"… Meh. So it's only Serenade, Sigma, Omega and Gray Thunderbolt… Interesting. Let's see how it plays out… But chances are high that either Omega or Serenade will be the final survivor…" He rubbed his chin.

"Plasma Gun!"

"Sigma Sword!"

"Sphere Thunder!"

"Holy Shock."

Omega switched back to the gun and shot several plasma attacks at Gray Thunderbolt who quickly ran sideways to dodge them as he formed a gray plasma spheroid which hovered into the air and began to make bolts of lightning drop at random in the arena: Sigma, in the meanwhile, was trying to attack Serenade with his huge blade and Serenade countered with his attack which weakened Sigma's shield.

"Hum, hum. My men are getting excited again. Good, good."

"Guah!"

"And Sigma fell to Serenade's continuous "Holy Shock", huh. The probabilities of him or Omega being the last survivor are increasing indeed…"

Serenade's attacks finally pierced through the shield and hit Sigma on several spots of his body making chunks of armor jump off and hit his inner body: one hit his exposed core and did a wound there which weakened Sigma and disabled him: Serenade then rushed for Gray Thunderbolt who was trying to deflect Omega's plasma attacks with magnetic fields: he saw Serenade coming so he let a bolt hit his right arm and load it up with energy which he released in the form of a blast.

"Hum. Let us see…"

Serenade used the same trick of before, making the attack curve and shoot back at the source but Gray Thunderbolt was now clashing an Elec Sword against Omega's saber and both had changed position so the deflected attack actually hit a wall instead: both were ignoring Serenade so he sighed and reluctantly shot out his white energy bodies which drew "S" patterns across the air: two lodged on either combatant's body and detonated thus inflicting some damage to him: it forced them to focus on him so they jumped at him with swords drawn but Serenade merely gripped both with his hands and a greenish glow surrounded them as they suddenly got deleted: both gasped as Serenade quickly attacked with Holy Shock and the blasts sent them away.

"A powered-up Shirahadori, huh? Interesting." Joker guessed.

Omega suddenly formed a little wolf-like growl as he lowered his gaze and the jewel on his forehead began to switch to crimson: energy began to build around him and it suddenly released in the form of an expanding red ring: Serenade blocked it with both hands just as Grey Thunderbolt jumped into the air and loaded up both arms with electricity which he fused into a single blast.

"Gray Thunderbolt! Max power!"

Serenade quickly moved his lances to intercept but the attack actually broke down into multiple bolts which curved around the lances and hit Serenade from many angles: he hissed as he instinctively stopped containing the red ring which had died down but Omega, surrounded by a crimson aura, rushed for him at a mad speed and swung his sword at a mad speed forming a diagonal cut from the left hip to the right shoulder: Serenade stepped back and the trapdoor opened on his feet as he was dropped out of the arena: only Gray Thunderbolt and Omega remained now.

"It's obvious now. Omega will be the last survivor. Excellent. Just as I wished it to be…"

Gray Thunderbolt nervously jumped into the air and formed a magnetic field to deflect several attacks in a row from Omega's gun yet Omega quickly jumped into the air higher than him and dived for him.

"Gray Thunderbolt!"

He shot his blast at Omega and it pierced through the thin aura hitting him but he continued diving while holding the blade with both hands: it stabbed into Gray Thunderbolt's chest and he gasped as he felt the pain of it piercing his armor: Omega's impulse had him crash his back against the southern wall: and he groaned as Omega pulled out his blade: the trapdoor opened again and Gray Thunderbolt was expelled from the arena as well: only Omega remained now and he quickly turned around to look at up at Joker: his face displayed rage and Joker sneered.

"Good, good… I'll make short work of this Wolverine breed butcher… I shall show you a fraction of my power! Hah!"

He turned off the Dimensional Area and jumped down into the arena himself: Omega rushed for him as he slightly arched backward and extended his arms diagonally as electrical bolts drawing spheres began to form on his hands before turning into crimson spheroids: he brought both hands parallel as both spheroids glowed: Omega was dashing forward with his blade upwards and over his left shoulder: he jumped and Joker calmly lifted his arms to follow his movements.

"Grave Meteor Laser!"

Several crimson streams of slightly wide and thick shot from the spheroids forming several rows and giving off the impression of being one gigantic laser attack: they all pierced through Omega's body as Joker warped to another spot of the arena: Omega's pierced body dropped into the arena and the blade skid along the sand for some tens of centimeters: everyone fell silent, impressed at Joker's power: the trapdoor opened and Omega was dropped in but Joker also dropped below.

"You fell for my trap, fools! Grave Meteor Laser!"

Countless screams of pain and agony rang out from the opened trapdoor and the Navis actually shivered as Joker's maniacal laughter rang out from below.

"And tomorrow… Your precious hero will suffer a miserable death by my hands! No – one will be able to challenge my existence! I was born to be the ultimate, and I will become the ultimate!"

His triumphant laughter rang out next and echoed around the arena…

18:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Netto. Netto! Wake up, Netto!"

"Ugh… Guh… M-my head aches… Damn you, you sadists…!"

"Calm down, Netto. It's me."

"Huh… P-papa…?"

"Yeah. Calm down. You're safe."

"Safe…? Ah!"

"Saito is here, too. So calm down."

Netto slowly began to wake up as he heard Yuuichirou's voice: he managed to open his eyelids which felt heavy and his sight began to focus: he looked to the right and saw Yuuichirou sitting on a chair next to him: the place was Netto's and Saito's bedroom at their home and Saito was sitting on his bed and giving Netto the back as he faced the wall: the outsides had darkened as well.

"What happened? Did the "Committee" find us?"

"Not exactly…" Yuuichirou sighed.

"Then what?"

"It's been a very chaotic day. There was that tournament and, at the same time, operations to free several Internet Cities at once. 5 cities have been freed but still over 30 of them remain under enemy control. But in the real world we had a string of confusing reports… Fires, break-ins, car accidents, kidnappings, brawls, earthquakes, tsunamis, gales, cave-ins, avalanches… Nobody knew for sure what was happening, when or where. The police and emergency services didn't know how to act."

"By all the…"

"And it wasn't until about an hour ago that the thing suddenly died down as suddenly as it had begun. It's suspected that foreign agents had staged the fake calls, mails, tweets and messages to create a lot of noise and mask something else… And that "something else" was you guys' disappearance… We thought that Ijuuin – kun had arranged for training room in his company's office so that you could train, see."

"Shit. So that's what those two meant!"

"And about 10 minutes ago some policemen discovered you two due to an anonymous call reporting a suspicious van parked behind Higureya. They found the key on the ground below it and when they opened it they found you tied in the backseat so they brought you here. I woke up Saito and connected him to his "cyborg body" but he's sulky and won't tell me anything. So that's why I hope you'll tell me what's happened." He sighed as he glanced at Saito.

"Eclipse and her accomplice! They lured us to a Game Center with a VIP Room making us think Enzan had arranged for it. And her accomplice was Princess Pride of Cream Land!"

"What!"

"Turns out that due to some discussions between government departments in Ameroupe she'd been allowed to go back to her home nation without being properly trialed… And Eclipse then invited her to join her in her petty plots… She challenged us to a Net Battle… It was starting to get complicated but niisan began to get the upper hand yet… He hesitated. He didn't feel like shooting at Knight Man to defeat him. And then Eclipse, hiding in the room, knocked me out…"

"I see. So that's why he's so sulky. He thinks it's his blame and that he shouldn't have hesitated." Yuuichirou guessed.

"Yeah. And those then began to torture us for what felt like hours until I got knocked out… I don't remember anything else."

"I see. I did suspect that that man's talk was a lie and it was to fuel up frustration amongst some of the Navis…"

"What happened to that tournament?"

"It was a trap from the beginning. Some of them got carried away by the eagerness to fight the man themselves… It the end only Omega remained but Joker didn't give him a chance to recover before he defeated him… And then went to the floor below the arena where all other Navis were at and shot a massive attack at them… They've survived but they've got grave wounds and got infected with a strange type of data which we're trying to analyze… It lodges on the insides of them and mixes different data around it…"

"Damn."

"But Omega suspected something like that could happen so he actually sent in a copy of himself to fight."

"I see. So at least Omega can help us out."

"Yeah. The man delivered a message saying he expects you guys to come to the UN HQ tomorrow at noon, Japanese time…"

"The UN HQ? The one in New York?" Netto was surprised.

"Correct."

"Huff. Must want to start up a show."

"Undoubtedly."

The house's bell rang and there was the sound of the front door opening and some hushed voices: someone climbed up the stairs and knocked on the bedroom's door.

"Hikari – hakase? It is me, Vadous."

"Ah. Come in."

"Excuse me."

Vadous, on his civilian outfit, came in: he looked like he'd changed in a rush since his necktie wasn't properly tied.

"Mr. Meijin contacted me. What a day! At least I've got a good piece of news. I pondered that Joker might be saving up a number with some meaning for that secret frequency… So I began to toy with some numbers and I finally found it. I tested it on a captured main generator's receiver and it works."

"What number was it?"

"062204… June, 2204… That was the month in which he was brought down for the first time…"

"Hum. So he actually used the date in which he was brought down as secret frequency…"

"The other day Eisei brought up a good point. I'm convinced that the man's talk about "Joker the 2nd" and all is just an act."

"What for?" Yuuichirou frowned.

"Mere rhetoric, sir! It's a way of saying "the man who went down some weeks ago wasn't me so I didn't run away because I'm another individual"… In short, his "defeat" some weeks ago was only because he wanted to settle the score with his rival but he nevertheless wanted to bring me and my men headaches hence why he did all he's done insofar in this age." He grumbled.

"I see." He wasn't too surprised.

"Anyway… What's wrong, Saito?"

"He thinks he's to blame for the trap we fell in. Because he couldn't bring himself to finish off the opponent… So he feels guilty for that. It's his usual "I didn't protect my Operator so I'm a useless Navi" behavior." Netto explained with a sigh.

"Saito. You know that you're not to blame. It's those two we're talking about, I'm sure nothing would've changed even if you'd won. So it doesn't make any difference." Yuuichirou called out.

"But I couldn't protect my Operator." Saito dully replied.

"This is not about Operator and Net Navi, Saito. You need to get over that mania of blaming yourself."

"Maybe you should replace me with a better Navi."

"Sheesh. Replace you? Get realistic, Saito. Don't forget who you are."

"A Navi who tries to imitate a dead human. That's all I am. A tool. To use and throw."

"That's not it, damn it!" Yuuichirou was getting annoyed.

"Why not let the guy rule the world, anyway? And then bow our heads and go on. Or maybe we could exile to a jungle somewhere and become one of those "primitive" tribes who dunno what goes on out there and they live in harmony with nature blissfully ignorant of the outside world… Now that would be Paradise." He dully muttered.

Yuuichirou suddenly left the room without saying anything, surprising both Netto and Vadous: Saito suddenly began to sob and Netto came closer to look over his shoulder.

"I'm so useless! I can't do the simplest of things!" He cried.

"That's not it, niisan! It was a trap. That's all there's to it. No – one's perfect, no – one told you to be perfect, either! We are how we are and that's it! I need you. You need me. Right?"

"… I'm sorry. I didn't want to…! It's just that…! Everyone expect so much out of me… And I can't handle it!"

"Remember what I said the other day? Hoshikawa also felt the weight of expectations on him but he overcame that nevertheless! Right, Vadous – san?"

"Exactly. If he could do it, then I'm sure that you guys can do it as well. You won't be alone. And it's not like we're going in without a plan because I've already got two or three aces up my sleeves. I'll show that guy that he'll have underestimated my capability twice in a row. And that he sucks compared to Team Rocket."

"S-sucks compared to Team Rocket…! Now that would be a good way to humiliate the guy…!" Saito began to laugh at the joke.

"I left because I felt that you wanted to let it out but not in front of me. Saito. I know what expectations mean. I feel them every day at job. I've felt them for years. As the son of the "architect of the Network"… But I am who I am and I do what I can. And my subordinates appreciate my efforts nevertheless. The enemy is trying to deceive you with them but you're stronger than that." Yuuichirou came back in.

"Yeah… You're right, Papa… It's just that… I didn't feel enough courage to admit to it… Because I didn't want to disappoint you…"

"Disappoint me? Don't bother to think about that. You've done a great deal of effort insofar, Saito. You and your friends, too. So don't falter and go on. Do what you can. That's all that matters."

Saito stood up and walked over to Yuuichirou who hugged him: Vadous formed a sad smile and silently stepped out, closing the door: Netto also hugged Saito from behind as well.

"Let's do it, Saito – niisan. This time we'll put an end to it, too."

"You're right, Netto – kun… It's time I bring out the courage… Along with you… And the others… I'll make a difference…!"


	14. Chapter 14: United we stand

**Chapter 14: United we stand**

21:49 PM (New York Time), Saturday October the 15th…

"… This is Team B. We finished the plaza inspection. Nothing out of place. Over."

"This is Team C. We finished the perimeter building inspection including emergency exits. Nothing out of place. Over."

"Roger that, Team B and C. Team A, come in."

"This is Team A. We finished inspection of ground floor of Secretariat Building and stories up to 19th floor. Over."

"This is Team D. We've inspected floors 20 to 39. Over."

"This is Team E. We've finished inspecting Conference Building. Over."

"This is Team F. Library inspection concluded. Over."

"This is Team G. General Assembly building inspection concluded. Over."

"Roger, all teams."

A group of UN security personnel were gathered in a command center next to a CCTV surveillance center and going over the radio with the security teams.

"Huh? This Team B! A mysterious black rectangle some tens of centimeters wide and long and about 4 meters tall has appeared in the middle of the plaza…"

"What? How?"

"We don't know!"

Some of the personnel entered the surveillance center and looked at the footage of the camera showing indeed a black slab standing in the midst of the plaza.

"Hey. Isn't that that "monolith" that appeared in that movie? What was the name again…?" One seemingly recognized it.

"Wasn't it Stanley Kubrick's _2001: A Space Odyssey_?" Another of the staff recalled.

"Exactly! But how did it show up out of nowhere?"

"That would be my work. To announce our coming." Joker's voice rang out from somewhere.

"What?"

The air rumbled and everyone struggled to keep their balance: two large mechanical hands made of a purple material and having four thin fingers each suddenly emerged from a gigantic black "portal" that was growing in size.

"What in the…?"

"Hmmm… This time let's use "King of Terrors" from _Record of Agarest War…_ Since I am Chaos, the God of Darkness!" Joker sneered as a BGM rang out from the building's and the plaza's speakers.

"What are THOSE?"

"You'll soon see, you fools… Hah!"

The "portal" expanded higher in the air and a gigantic mole emerged from the "portal": it soon totally emerged and loomed over them: all color left their faces.

A gigantic robot easily over 6 or 7 meters tall emerged and hovered inches above the Secretariat Building's roof.

Its main body was humanoid in shape and made of some purplish material: the head a central "eye" that emitted a thin menacing reddish glow as it was underneath what seemed to be the upper head.

A large mass of a greenish/grayish material and which seemed to be further pieces of it was spread starting over the shoulders and towards the rear: two gigantic hands with six fingers each could be made out of the several pieces there.

"Witness! This is the "Wiita"! Absolute power! I am Joker… And don't associate me with that stupid pitiful human, the arch nemesis of _Batman_! Dare to say a single word about and I'll crush you!"

"By all the… Call the Air Force! Now!" One ordered.

"Air Force? Hah! Let them come and be crushed by my might! Soon enough a fool will come to die in a miserable manner…"

"Hey! A strange dome is forming and it's encompassing the whole compound!" Someone pointed out.

"What!"

A "Dimensional Area" began to form and it trapped the whole compound inside of it as colors inside distorted: the robot then hovered towards the main plaza where that "Monolith" had been placed at: in the meanwhile, some "Wave Roads" began to form around the compound along with squares.

"Good… It's 21:58… They'll soon he here. To struggle and die in a miserable way! My calculations are perfect indeed!" Joker eagerly exclaimed aloud through the robot.

"What the hell do we do now? Fortunately enough only a minimum of staff is left on the compound at this hour of the night… So we needn't worry about sheltering diplomats yet…" The head of the security staff cursed.

"Huh? What was that?"

"What now?"

"I saw a flash of light coming from the small wood towards the east… But it's now gone…" One of the staff reported.

"Wasn't it someone's camera?"

"No, a camera wouldn't make such a powerful flash…"

"22:00 PM… And there they come… Just in time. Huh? What!"

"What are those two? Net Navis?"

"Seems like it…"

"Cross Fusion" Netto and Omega suddenly appeared on a Wave Road coming from the east and stopped in a square right in front of the robot's chest: Joker was obviously surprised.

"You? But I finished you off hours ago! You shouldn't be able to move again so early!" He gasped.

"Hmpf! I smelled your ploy… I sent a copy of myself to fight there!"

"What! A copy! Damn it!"

"And set it up so that it believed it was the original! In fact, not even Blood and Sigma knew of it. So that's why they could act naturally because they thought I was the real one. How's that? Your petty calculations aren't so perfect anymore, huh?" Omega taunted.

"Damn it!"

"And, by the way… I've got another surprise in store for you!"

"What?"

"Look at the Cyber World, will you?"

"WHAT! All of the cities under my control have been freed? Impossible! How could they free 40 cities in such a short time?"

"Your own tools backfire at you!" Omega sneered.

"What! It can't be! The secret frequency?"

"Yeah! We figured it out! And thus we sent a retreat order to all your troops which have gone back to that unused Italian weather satellite where you'd built that coliseum! You've got nothing to use as hostages anymore."

"Damn you! Damn you! DAMN YOU~! My perfect calculations! My perfect calculations…!"

"… Any idea of what they're saying?" The chief of the staff asked another.

"Nope. I think it's Japanese but I dunno. Whatever they're telling the guy on the robot it'd seem that he didn't expect it."

"That much I can figure out… All of the interpreters have left already… Guess we can only record it and hope someone will translate it afterwards…"

"If the Universe isn't perfect how can any thing we or the humans make be perfect, anyway? Meteor G was far from perfect. You exaggerate its scale, no? Didn't Cygnus Wing R say it years ago? "Don't make laugh! When compared to the Black Hole Server… Meteor G is but a mere folder!"…" Omega quoted.

"Shut up!" Joker hissed.

"Hah. Your patience isn't perfect, either! About time you proved it, fraud!"

"F-fraud? Me?"

"Of course. That of "Joker the 2nd" was but a lie to avoid admitting that your fight with Akatsuki was but an act and you weren't really "satisfied" with the outcome."

"Grrr! Damned red mouse! I'll crush you with this masterpiece!"

The "Wiita" suddenly formed new hands and then grabbed a large sword made of some metallic material: the blade was made of energy and had a purplish tint to it: "Wiita" held it with the right hand as the six-fingered hand overlapped the smaller one and properly gripped it: the sword cut through the air and delete the Wave Roads upon contact: both combatants jumped away while shooting ranged attacks: Omega shot his plasma rounds while "CF" Netto was shooting a Giga Cannon PA at it: both attacks hit an energy field and struggled against it: Omega took the chance to materialize 4 "Stone Cubes" that dropped into the field from above and further overloaded it.

"Grrr! This generator can withstand anything! Anything!" Joker hissed but he didn't sound too convincing, for once.

"He's starting to get nervous. Good. Thought as much, though. That robot is a replica made of data so some systems couldn't be wholly replicated! Just in case I'm saving up something that could bring us the upper hand but let's not get confident, either." Omega whispered.

"Roger." "CF" Netto calmly replied.

The "Wiita" swung left and right before spinning upon its axis and creating wind currents sucking things in like a tornado: the Stone Cubes dropped into the floor yet an explosion happened on the robot's back and the energy field vanished: Joker let out a string of expletives.

"Damn it! Bah! I've still got countless weapon systems! Enough to burn this damned planet to the ground! Then I'll go find those "Creators" who designed this and I'll have them build me a new one!"

"Oh crap. Maybe in this age they haven't started their decadence yet. But then again he surely doesn't know where they are."

"Who does the guy mean?" "CF" Netto asked.

"The guys who built Tabuu…"

"So that robot was originally built by them, too?"

"We suppose so. Don't lower the guard, Hikari. It's still got a lot of stuff in store…"

"Roger."

"Hra~h! Destroy Missiles!"

A series of small missiles about 50 cm long each formed on the air above the robot and began to rain towards them: both jumped away as they impacted into the Wave Roads and the ground: some of them locked into the two combatants so Omega flung a chaff grenade into the air to make the targeting system go mad: the hands' fingers aimed towards them and began to shoot continuous crimson lasers as wide as a human's head towards them: "CF" Netto placed a row of "Curse Shields" to their right to block the beams as they put some distance between them and the robot: the laser beams managed to pierce through them but lost much of their heat and power in doing so and were very thin by the time they did so: the missiles locked on them again so both shoot back at them: two "portals" suddenly formed on the air and next to each combatant as the hands detached and appeared next to each of them to grip them.

"Now!" Both muttered.

A cloud of smoke ensued and boulders were left behind as both reappeared atop the shoulders of the robot: Omega plunged his blade into the right shoulder with both hands while "CF" Netto shot a Charge Shot at point-blank range: both attacks pierced the outer armor and Joker grumbled from the inside.

"Damned _Kawarimi_!" He hissed.

"Did you think we haven't learnt how to deal with this piece of junk after fighting it twice?" Omega shot back.

"Junk! This is indeed junk! Damn it! If that damned Vadous hadn't improved the portal machine reload time I'd still have the original one and I'd be invincible!"

"No – one's invincible, you moron."

"Yeah. So this is all you can actually do? So much for the "ultimate" title, huh? You're the one who disappoints people, not me."

"Shut up, damned brats!"

"There, you're no better than Hyde when cornered."

"WHAT! DON'T DARE PLACE ME AT THE SAME LEVEL AS THOSE BUFFOONS!"

"I'm sure the Joker could come up with something better, too."

"DON'T BRING OUT THAT NAME EITHER!"

"…What are they doing? Are they really trying to piss that guy off?"

"Seems like it. I dunno what they hope to achieve."

"Maybe they want to lure him out of the robot?"

"Could be."

"You fell for it, ugly."

"Fell for it? What? WHAT! T-this is…!"

Some parts of the robot began to be erased all of a sudden as both combatants jumped away and landed in a nearby square: Joker hissed and let out more expletives.

"The "black paint" I gave those buffoons!" He growled.

"Yeah. We retrieved some of it and we managed to create more of it. Yet another of your tools that backfires on you. And since this robot is made of data I can easily destroy it with this stuff."

"Damn it all!"

"Not so mighty anymore, huh?"

"FINE! I don't need this junk anymore! I'll crush with the power of Meteor G! The ultimate power!"

The robot landed on the ground and two plates on the chest swung outwards: Joker jumped out and landed on a Wave Road square yet his form has changed.

His jaw was covered by a thick metallic jaw guard.

His boots had split into shoes and thick leg guards.

He also had a pair of powerful gauntlets covering his forearms.

The sides of his body had crimson armor with yellow edges protecting them and part of the front and back yet most of the torso remained unchanged.

The most notable change was the addition of a thick and heavy-looking tower-like constructs on his shoulders that seemed to be a half of the "U" letter each.

"Hra~h! Grave Meteor Laser!"

"Don't try to block this! Run!"

"Roger!"

"Eat the power of GRAVE JOKER!"

Grave Joker loaded up the attack like he'd done some hours before and both jumped off the Wave Road and towards the ground yet Joker suddenly warped in front of "CF" Netto just as he'd landed and aimed both hands forward: "CF" Netto didn't lose his cool, however, and formed a big Mettool helmet which he dropped atop Joker: the enemy growled and immediately shot the attack upwards but then "CF" Netto rushed in with a Dream Sword and flung it at Grave Joker hitting him fully since both arms were still aiming upwards: Joker growled but didn't flinch at the attack as he rushed for "CF" Netto who back flipped backwards to dodge the swinging arms: Joker growled and punched floor with both punches: some tall metallic cubes about 3 meters tall each dropped at random around the area making navigation harder.

"Damned brats!" He hissed.

"You're the one who began asking for brawl, anyway." "CF" Netto shot back, unimpressed.

"Who'd said we stick to your crappy script, anyway?" Rock Man added.

"Shut up! Shut up!" His eyes depicted rage.

"Reminds you of Hyde as well, eh?" Omega taunted.

"If it weren't for you brats…! I'd be the ultimate…!"

"Dr. Yoiri didn't build you to be the ultimate. You were just supposed to study Crimson, Noise Change and Meteor G. Like how Clock Genius was supposed to study the flow of time-space."

"Grrrr!"

"You can't deny the facts, can you? You just began to believe that Meteor G was the ultimate power because of its size and nature. Just like King, Queen Tia and Jack. You got deluded by that thing into starting a fight to see who'd get control of it first."

"Damn them all! I'll crush you all! I can still ruin this damned planet on my own! And then gain further power from the "Creators"! Thus I will become the ultimate indeed!"

"Shoo, shoo. Something tells me they'd rather blow you up with anti-matter or something like that. They mustn't want outsiders to hijack their tech."

"Grrr! All of them make a fool out of me!"

"If you'd stuck to your original goal then you'd left behind a name as a great Wizard but instead you turned to King's petty terrorism and you sealed your fate. But before that you got deluded. And the WAXA officials didn't act in a proper manner because they actually incentivized you to ditch them instead of properly behaving."

"I don't care about that anymore! I just want to crush you!"

"Alright… Hikari. Execute Plan A." Omega ordered.

"Roger. Hra~h!"

"What! It can't be!"

"CF" Netto's chest emblem began to glow and his body was surrounded by a purple-colored mass of energy: streams of purplish light began to jump out of his body next.

"T-this is…!" Grave Joker seemed to know what it was.

The light dimmed to reveal how "CF" Netto had gained a new purple armor with black patterns over his bodysuit.

His helmet had gained a terrific-looking faceplate two crimson-colored hexagons were set over the eyes while the nose and the mouth were covered by a triangular piece which had a matrix of vertical and horizontal straight lines on it the design of which looked reminiscent of a gas mask's filter.

The armor included a black metallic belt with a round central point having the Hikari family crest drawn into it plus two decorated sword sheaths attached to both sides of it.

"That's the rumored "Vadous Soul", huh? Hah. Vadous, the fool… Thinking that making you take on his stupid armor's form would be a good idea…I laugh at it!"

"Oh yeah? Wasn't Subaru's Noise Change strong enough to drive you into a corner years ago?" Omega reminded him.

"Grrrr!"

"Don't underestimate our power. I find your lack of faith disturbing." "CF" Netto taunted.

"Hah. Die as fools! Giant Buildings! Thousand Kick!"

Grave Joker formed some obstacles and then rushed in to deliver a series of quick kicks with his right foot yet all of his movements suddenly slowed down as some stalactite fragments fell from above, a wave two meters tall impacted him, a black orb of energy adhered to his right shoulder, a white beam of light hit his left shoulder, a small tornado formed on his feet and lifted him and, finally, two strings of purplish flames spiraled around his body: he didn't flinch from any of the attacks yet an "infinity" symbol colored gray suddenly formed on his forehead and his body froze: Omega rushed in and delivered several fast slashes with his blade before stepping away: time returned to normal and Grave Joker warped away while assessing all of the damage.

"What in the…? Damn. So it's more than a funny cosplay!" He grumbled as he assessed the level of damage.

"They warned you. You didn't listen." Omega taunted.

"… This is getting weirder and weirder. What now? A Darth Vader wannabe? What's this, a geek movie?"

"Really looks like one."

"Damn you…! I am smarter than any of you!"

"I'll admit that the scale of this incident overcomes any other incident we've had before yet… You've acted like a coward the whole time."

"It's insurance!"

"Oh, sure. All dictators and cowards say the same."

"Don't compare me to weak-willed humans! Defective!"

"Defective? Oh, sure."

"Die! Grave Meteor Laser!"

"CHAOS BEAM!"

"CF" Netto suddenly formed a black sphere of energy on his hands which was a highly concentrated beam of blackish energy which shook the air on its wake and opened a crevice on the ground: the "Chaos Beam" then impacted the incoming stream of energy and both attacks hit each combatant: the "Chaos Beam" hit Grave Joker and he roared as it formed a wound on his body while several of the streams of energy hit "CF" Netto and inflicted wounds on the extra layer the "Vadous Soul" provided yet his original bodysuit below it wasn't too damaged: "CF" Netto panted as the extra armor dematerialized: Omega stood in front of him with the gun ready while Grave Joker was assessing the scope of the damage.

"It's broken through 98.5% of my armor!" He gasped, for once.

"Hmpf. Not so perfect anymore, huh?"

"Hah. But the fool bet it all on this one! That fool is done for!"

"I wonder about that."

"Y-yeah… Sub-Chip! Max Recovery!"

"Sheesh. Forgot about those."

"Your memory files aren't so perfect, either!"

"Grrrr!"

"How about you go plead for help to those guys?"

"Plead? Me? Don't make me laugh!"

"Maybe Hyde was better suited to acting than you!"

"STOP DEGRADING ME!"

"I do whatever I like. Coward."

"I'm just fulfilling my purpose, damn it!"

"How many times do I need to repeat myself? Huff. Your purpose was to _study_. Not to destroy. And to believe yourself to be the ultimate. Says the man who actually blew up to try to take out your rival but you failed at it and you did King a favor." Omega shrugged.

"Guguguguh…!"

"You're degrading yourself."

"Shut up, rabid dog! I've got still some aces ready as well! Something that will wipe you off!"

"Counting on your piece of junk? Check again."

"Huh? What! It's gone! But how?"

"That'd be me."

"Vadous!"

Vadous, wearing an armor and helmet identical to the one that "CF" Netto had used including a chest emblem with a purple "V" drawn against a black background: he was using a hover platform and was carrying what seemed to be a modified flamethrower: there was no trace of the robot whatsoever.

"Damn. You filled the tank with "black paint" and used it to completely delete that piece of junk in a silent manner…!"

"You've forgotten that I also take action myself and this armor is more than cosplay, too. It's designed to allow me to fight types like you and handle some blows."

"Bah! I don't need it! Fine! I'll use it now!"

"Use your CPU?"

"Hah! Come out, Tabuu!"

"Ah. Expected as much."

"Huh? This guy can use Tabuu's power?"

"Guess he did copy the data from Subaru some weeks ago. The lousy hacker rascal…"

A Navi suddenly appeared on the scene.

Black armor made of an unknown material covered the whole of his body thus protecting him.

The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth yet it had two cavities for the eyes which were plain red and lacking iris: but they seemed to be a decoration more than his real eyes, too.

His shoulders were plain and didn't have a spheroid form unlike most Navis: he had elbows and the armor over the hands included two small dome-shaped objects with the Alphabet "T" character colored in rainbow colors drawn upon them.

The armor extended across his legs, being thicker around the knees and ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet: rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.

The main body was absent of decoration save for a pattern drawing the same Alphabet "T" letter in the middle of the chest the colors of which were constantly shifting and mixing.

Lastly, four large and irregularly-shaped wings formed behind him: its colors were also constantly shifting, too.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Be wiped out by the power of your "ally"! Now that it's mine then…!"

"Tabuu" folded the wings to cover his body as he built up a reddish sphere of energy: but he suddenly turned to face Grave Joker and spread his wings wide as a set of three powerful reddish shockwaves spread from his body and hit him one after the other: his whole body frizzled with reddish electricity and he growled and hissed as he was pushed back by the energy and some parts of his arms' and legs' armors were destroyed by the power: he was finally sent flying and he crashed against the wall of a nearby building: "Tabuu" vanished from the field while Grave Joker looked on with disbelief.

"What the hell? I did countless simulations! In all of them I managed to use this power without a hitch."

"But you didn't actually try to activate it, huh?"

"I bypassed that stupid failsafe that made it ID-locked to Hoshikawa!"

"Oh, sure you did. But knowing Tabuu I'm sure there was another failsafe hidden in the pre-execution sequence. Which you didn't fulfill."

"What? What condition?"

"Brother Bands. You've got none. So only someone with a Brother Band linked to Subaru could use it. Not even Burai could use it because he's never used Brother Bands. Tabuu knew that Subaru's power lay on his bonds with others so that's why he entrusted him this Battle Card. He foresaw types like you trying to make use of it." Vadous explained.

"No! I am once again cornered by those childish "bonds"? Why do they have to chase me everywhere I go to? How can Burai bear with those? The man's fate is to fight alone and by his own power!"

"Burai had the wrong idea about what "bonds" were really about. But at least he was raised to listen to the elders of his tribe so he ended up realizing the limits of his own power. Burai never claimed to be the ultimate, though. He was just trying to deny "bonds". He was going by "guilty by association"."

"If Akatsuki could survive his encounters with you… That's because he fought for the sake of his comrades. He didn't seek personal glory or further power. You've become a power-hungry fool who'll never have enough… Your strength is indeed true yet you deluded yourself by thinking you're the ultimate. Just like Forte used to be years ago." Omega added with a sigh.

"Hah! I'm better than that weakling motivated by petty revenge he could never hope to accomplish!"

"Oh, sure. At least you're not blinded by revenge but by the desire of crushing everyone else and becoming the only "ultimate"… And what will you once you reach that stage? Will you be satisfied? Or you'll wander aimlessly trying to find opponents worth your time? Or go brawl with asteroids or other natural phenomena to claim you're above them? Will you ever have enough?" Omega questioned.

"Guh…! Kuh…!" Grave Joker hissed: Omega had some points there he couldn't deny.

"So go challenge those and leave us alone once and for all. We don't have all the time in the world to stick to your shabby farces."

"Shut up! Grave Meteor Laser!"

"You don't learn. Alright, Hikari! Plan B!"

"OK! Lend me a hand… Hoshikawa!"

"What!"

A recreation of the "future" Rock Man appeared next to "CF" Netto and both charged up their busters: their attacks shot through the mass of incoming energy Grave Joker had shot and they pierced through his chest taking profit of the earlier wound that he hadn't bothered to heal: Grave Joker gasped while "CF" Netto hissed as the energy pieces stabbed into his body: Rock Man let out some groans of pain but both held on: the copy silently withstood the attack as well before it dissolved as the damage overcame its limits: "CF" Netto stepped back as some parts of his bodysuit broke as well exposing his normal clothes beneath it: Grave Joker was also recoiling as some data began to leak from his pierced and damaged energy core.

"Huh…! In the end…! Even if I overcome time and space…! They chase me everywhere…! Those damned bonds…! But this isn't the end…! My will shall live on…! And will take many shapes…! To bring you death and misery…! Across the time and space…!"

"Oh come on. You're now acting like the loser Nebula Grey was and the "Shuuen no Mono" from _Skyward Sword_." Omega sighed.

"Gugah…! But my name shall go down in history…! They will fear the almighty Grave Joker…! And they will realize how feeble they actually were…! In the end… I am above all of them…! Even you, Acid…! I can still crush you~! DIE~!"

He dashed forward while shooting his missiles but Omega and "CF" Netto drew blades which they stabbed into Grave Joker: "CF" Netto did it from the front while Omega jumped over him and plunged his blade from behind: Grave Joker roared as his energy core's energy released in the form of an expanding explosion which blinded all cameras for some seconds: when the light cleared none of the combatants remained in the place: the "monolith" and the "Dimensional Area" were gone as well: the whole staff looked at each other with disbelief.

"Did we… dream all of that…? Was it an illusion…? What was it…?"


	15. Chapter 15: Satisfaction

**Chapter 15: Satisfaction**

12:24 PM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 23rd…

"… I'm still surprised, you two."

"No wonder."

"Yeah. That was an experience like any before…"

"No, I mean that… Surprised that nobody has been able to figure out you where there… The media, I mean."

"Yeah. Maybe the Net Police has put pressure."

"Guts, guts! Guttin' Guts Punch!"

"Whoa! This is faster than the usual!"

"Heh, heh! The _desperado_ strikes back!"

The whole Akihara Middle group had gathered in Yaito's manor garden: a Net Battle machine had been placed there and Guts Man was having a Net Battle with Delta as Rafael looked on: Netto and Saito were sitting in some of the chairs along with Meiru who held her PET on the right hand.

"Guess that. It'd seem rumors of that battle being part of the NSA0s new-gen Net Navi field testing are spreading…"

"Well, I don't see any trouble with it. As long as they don't start bothering us with questions and requests for exclusive interviews… I can always reply that the details are confidential, anyway."

"Fortunately the Internet is back to normal… The scars, though, will take time to heal." Roll sighed.

"Can't be helped. No Navi was prepared for what happened."

"So? So?" Yaito suddenly showed up and grinned.

"Yaito – sama…" Glyde sighed.

"No comments." Meiru simply replied.

"And don't start behaving like the press and coming up with some tale based on sketchy sources or your expectations…" Roll added.

"Of course not, my dears… By the way, what become of that duo?"

"Eclipse… Well, Toba Misa… She actually walked in a police station and surrendered herself yet she says she did it because she wanted it to be anti-climactic… And because she's interested in the women prison inmates' gangs…" Meiru replied.

"And she obviously doesn't regret her actions in the least but at least she's nothing compared to that Anaya we've heard so much about."

"And what about that princess gal?"

"Turns out she managed to sneak out the nation and got back to Cream Land… Must've used a civilian identity readied by her nation… Of course, there's a request sent to Cream Land through the Interpol asking for her extradition but it's been ignored insofar. I don't think the Cream Land government will obey it, either. It'd seem that it's pretty well-know that the princess has weird hobbies but no law forbids her from that. And they'll surely bring up the allegation that she has diplomatic immunity. So we can't do much on that aspect either." Meiru detailed.

"How are those two reacting to that, then?"

"Ask them. They're there, you know?"

"Huh? Oh my. I hadn't noticed them."

Yaito spotted Obihiro (wearing his usual outfit) and Akira (wearing a reddish jumper and jeans along with white sneakers) sitting in another spot of the garden and looking at the Net Battle.

"For the time being they seem to be resigned with it and some convincing by Vadous – san reminded them not to get blinded by the wish to have "payback" on them… Well, at least Toba is going to be judged and imprisoned so you could say it's a partial victory for them."

"Hum. Guess that. Where Hikawa – kun, though?"

"Guess he's roaming somewhere close by… Ah. There he comes back. Maybe he went to the restroom." Netto spotted.

"I see that everyone is back to normal. That was fast."

"Fast? Well, it took until Monday evening to finally heal them of that "Crimson" data that Joker infected them with. So it was rather fast but it took effort even by using Omega's and Vadous – san's knowledge."

"There's one thing I'm not sure about yet… Where did that mole come out from, anyway?"

"It'd seem he was a NSA project to study a phenomenon in which "signal noise" began to take on shapes and mix data to actually end up producing new data… And other times it "condensed" into a mass known as "Crimson"… But he began to get obsessed with the potential of it to the point he believe himself that this power existed to help him become the ultimate… He read a lot of stuff and he apparently thought of recreating real-world tactics and situations in the Internet to test the world. He seems to have especially taken inspiration in WWII…" Saito explained with detail.

"I see. So he went berserk and began to act on his own."

"Yeah. In essence. If only he'd remained faithful to his original purpose then… But it might've also been that the power he could handle and his intelligence were exaggerated by his creators, too."

"Guess that. Oh, look. Forte and Serenade have come, too."

"True. Did you link the machine to your house's HP?"

"Sure. Let's go."

The group walked over to the machine: Guts Man and Delta were still fighting and Delta seemed to be in trouble to catch up with Guts Man's new movements: he charged up a Charge Shot and hit the right hip momentarily distracting him.

"Battle Chip, Super Vulcan! Slot In!"

"Super Vulcan!"

"Stone Cube!"

"Oh crap!"

"Man. Ooyama has suddenly improved, no?" Forte asked Rafael.

"Yeah. I suspect that Yuuyami Koutarou – sama is the culprit."

"Yuuyami Koutarou?" Serenade wondered.

"Who's that?" Urakawa wondered over his channel with Serenade.

"De masu! That would be me! De masu!"

Higure showed up wearing a worn down cloak and a straw hat plus a white bandana with the _kanji_ "nin" (stealth) written on it using black ink: he looked like he was attempting to imitate a _samurai_.

"But wasn't your name Higure Yamitarou…? Ah. I see. "Higure" is "sunset" and "yuuyami" is "twilight"… You swapped them. And then you put "kou" or "light" in your first name to take out "yami" or "dark"… But why bother?" Serenade deduced.

"That is my hidden name as a _samurai_ of the 21st century! De masu!"

"Something tells me Yamato Man wouldn't like to hear that." Urakawa muttered with a sigh.

"Maybe so."

"So? Did you teach Ooyama some new tactics?"

"Indeed! He's become my disciple! Koyama Chuuo!"

"Koyama Chuuo? Oh come on." Netto sighed.

"If memory serves… You have a brother named Chisao, no? So that's why you picked "Chuuo" because it's on the middle between "deka" which is "big" or "huge" and "chisa" which is "little" or "small"…" Meiru deduced with a sigh.

"Sure, Meiru! I'll become a master of Net Battles!"

"Will that help you approve the December exams?"

"YIKES!"

"Thought as much." Hikawa wasn't too surprised.

"Heh! We're burnin' up!" Akashi grinned.

"I fail to see the joke." Tomono muttered.

"Go, Chuuo! My disciple! De masu! Brighten up the road of the Chip _samurai_ , de masu!"

"What's that supposed to be, anyway…?" Number Man sighed.

"Guttsy… I'm the ghost of Gattsy… I've come to get my punches back… Gimme 'em back to me…"

"G-guts? A g-g-ghost, de guts? W-w-what do I do, Dekao?"

"C-calm down! G-ghost don't exist!"

"Omega. It's you, right?" Forte grinned.

"Sure." Omega, looking in his cherry mood, showed up.

"Sheesh! Don't scare me, man!" Dekao grumbled.

"I'm the roar of roars!" Sigma suddenly appeared next to Guts Man and loomed over him.

"Hmpf! Guts Man isn't afraid anymore, de guts!"

"Sigma… Don't start up a fuss now." Blood Shadow sighed.

"Don't worry, Brad Shad. Amgis will start a rumble."

"I'm too used to that nickname to be surprised anymore."

"Same here…"

"So! Troll – F. Any insights on the upcoming rumbles?"

"Man. Been a while since anyone called me like that… And what do you mean by upcoming rumbles, anyway?"

"There, on the south!"

"On the south…? Ah, ah… I now get it. Well… Who knows? Maybe it'll get cold due to distances, see…"

"Hum! Could be, could be. OK. Well then… Beware of Troll – Z's slash!"

"Zero quit the club time ago, mind you…"

"We heard there was a party…" Zero suddenly appeared.

"And we dropped by." Gate Man added.

"Is it alright, though?" Serenade asked.

"You mean the workload? We managed to distribute more or less in even numbers amongst all branches… We're taking a little break of 15 minutes before we start with the next bunch… But it's not that big of a deal. Just do a basic checkup, reconfirm their ID number, and a basic repair." Zero explained.

"Of course, if their Operator wants some other type of repair or change then we apply it as well."

"Why. It's been a while since I came to a party… Maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all, Meijin."

"Thank you, sir."

"Whoa! Papa, you came as well?"

"Yeah… I was getting back on the bad habit of overworking and Meijin suggested me a change of airs."

"Good idea."

Yuuichirou and Meijin joined the party as well, both still wore their Science Labs coats below their coats: Obihiro and Akira walked up to the group.

"Ah. Hello, Hikari – kun. I hadn't spotted you."

"It's been a while."

"Yeah. You OK, guys? You look lost in thoughts."

"Well. You can guess the why."

"It's this feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction that's building up inside of you…" Akira admitted.

"I see. But you must learn to move on forward and not let it frustrate your progress. Something similar happened to me shortly after dad died, too… That feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction kept on hampering me the whole time… Until I managed to move on… It's not easy. It takes resolution and time. And help." Yuuichirou admitted.

"I see. Thank you for the advice, sir."

"It's nothing. By the way… Akira – kun, was it? Had we met before?"

"I don't think so, sir. I've never dropped by the Science Labs."

"Maybe I'm mixing you up with someone else. Sorry. I've been so busy these days that I'm mixing people up. I actually called Meijin "Edogawa" the other day… As in Edogawa Ranpo… I'd happened to be going over one of his novels so…"

"Can't be helped, sir."

"I know, but nevertheless…"

"Nevertheless Obi – chan and Gray – chan have business!" Omega suddenly laughed from the Net Battle machine.

"Business?" Yuuichirou frowned.

"Oh come on. Omega. Stay silent and do us a favor." Akira sighed.

"We just happen to work together from time to time. We're cousins, so…"

"Ah. So you're cousins. I did see some resemblance between you two so I did think you had some blood relationship…"

"And now Bates will Bate the Bates!" Omega made a lame pun.

"And what would that mean, sir?" Glyde was puzzled.

"It means that ya need some rumblin' shakes, Glyde!" Yaito giggled.

"I fail to see the point, Yaito – sama!"

"Indeed!"

"Yikes! Daddy!"

Mr. Ayanokouji walked over to her and directed one of his commanding stares at Yaito who lost all cocky mood.

"Don't confuse Glyde with nonsense. He's not here to bear with your pranks and lame humor."

"B-but…"

"What? That that Navi started it up, you mean to say? If he did so then his superior will scold him for that. Don't use others as excuses, Yaito! I'm keeping three eyes on you." He warned her.

"Y-yeah… Gotcha…"

"See?" Meiru sighed as if she'd seen it coming.

"Thanks for your help too, Sakurai – kun."

"It's nothing, sir. Someone has to point out her flaws, sir."

"Indeed. The maids are authorized to do so as well but it'd seem you never take them too seriously. You should. As well as the tutors who come give you lessons on business and economy."

"I know that! I'm not 6 years old! I'm already 13! Despite my low height!"

"I knew that. But you still behave like you were in elementary school instead of middle school."

"Sheesh."

"And I don't know why but I feel like I'm saying this very often as of late. I must be stressed as well." He muttered.

"Beware! The show of Meijin's vanishing cookies by Sigaano Nogaano!"

"Wha! What, it's you… Don't scare me like that, man!"

"Sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Talk about an unexpected visitor."

A man wearing a grayish coat with a brown hat and sunglasses stepped into the garden behind Meijin and made up a joke thus startling him.

He also wore black trousers and brown shoes.

He could be close to two meters tall, too.

"Excuse me for my sudden apparition. I am an acquaintance of Mr. Meijin here. Sigaano Nogaano. Freelance computer security advisor…" He introduced himself to Mr. Ayanokouji.

"I see. Well, anyone is welcome. It's a party intended to shake off the tenion of the past weeks, anyway." He welcomed.

"Thank you very much. If you shall excuse me…"

"Of course. It was a pleasure, Mr. Sigaano."

"Thank you, Mr. Ayanokouji."

He walked over to the twins and Obihiro and Akira who'd moved to below the treehouse while Yuuichirou and Meijin talked with Mr. Ayanokouji: the Net Navis were now watching a livestream of a NBA basketball match and looked engrossed on that.

"So you finally dropped by, huh?" Netto commented.

"Yeah. As you know that rascal feared me so much he used the hostages to impede me from taking action. And he had the guts to try to use a Battle Chip I was working on for you, Hikari… That's what happens when you underestimate one's intellect." He replied.

"Ah. So you're Tabuu." Akira realized.

"We'd met each other but I think that not in this form. Sigaano Nogaano is a civilian alias I made up like some of the Navis here. It began as a silly pun but I ended up getting attached to it. Makes me look like an Italian. Heh, heh, heh." He chuckled.

"But it's not Italian, right?" Obihiro guessed.

"Oh no. It was intended to be a pun in Spanish combining "sí gano" and "no gano" which are "I win" and "I don't win"… I added an extra "a" vowel to make it more "exotic"…"

"I'd heard your name before but I wasn't sure who you were supposed to be… You did put up quite a show in the past."

"Oh, sure I did. But it was a mere show. I never intend to mean actual harm to anyone. Then I took a season off to explore a bit more of the world… _Aibou_ … Vadous designed me as a prototype Navi to test a new type of Internet tech he was working on… After a while he told me I was free to go and do as I pleased so I decided to use what I'd learn from him to test him out."

"I see. Well, looks like the baseball match is getting on the road so we're going to check it out." Akira glanced over there.

"See you."

"Sure. We'll come in a couple minutes. We want to ask some questions."

"… Alright. No – one is close enough to overhear…" Saito checked.

" _Aibou_ will be coming as well. He's just wrapping up a meeting with the "Committee"… No big deal, just to go over the lessons learnt from this crisis… It turns out the chaos of the other day was organized by Cream Land agents, "sleepers", here in Japan… And foreign hackers hired by Eclipse…"

"I see." Netto wasn't too surprised.

"Anyway. _Aibou_ told me you and Hoshikawa exchanged messages a few days ago, right?"

"Yeah. We told him we used that replica of him because Vadous – san didn't want to force him to come here." Saito confirmed.

"Since he thought his battles were finally over and it was our responsibility to take on this crisis…"

"I see. I guessed as much."

"But insofar it'd seem there haven't been any time paradoxes."

"Yeah. Probably the information on this has been kept classified or was deleted or lost at some point. Maybe _aibou_ told you guys already but to avoid temptation neither of us knows what happens between this year, 2012, and the other front, the year 2207… Insofar there have been no paradoxes despite all these time-travelers, us included, so we've been incredibly lucky… At least they don't involve people we know. Maybe it's affected someone else around the world but we have no way of knowing. Trying to know what happened and trying to change it is a big temptation indeed." Tabuu whispered to them.

"Obviously." Netto agreed.

"So maybe the fact that we helped a revolution to bring down the military tyranny in the Z – Nation has had some effect in the future but it hasn't involved anyone we know of. We don't know if it was a good thing to or not and we'd better not know least we trigger more time paradoxes. The only people who know of this outside of us are Hioki, Toba and Princess Pride but I'm sure that no – one would believe a tale so contrived. It's not like we want to lie to you guys' friends but it's too delicate of a matter. Someone could get tempted, like Hyde did. We trust them but nevertheless one must be careful. Only a few selected agents of the "Committee" have been involved in an operation on the "future" and they swore to keep it secret. They realized that no – one would believe such a far-fetched history, anyway."

"We agree. It's a pity but it can't be helped."

"All began with Anaya and her ambitions… And discovering a tech that allowed her to jump across the time-space... After exploring the 21st and 22nd century she set her eyes on Hoshikawa since, as you know, his father was already a well-known astronaut and he was going to led the expedition in the year 2201 to go contact the FM Planet… That's when she decided to open up the "front" where most things began… And we, using her tech or similar tech, have been coming and going to try to help solve crises…"

"Tab – chan! So ya dropped by, too! Let's tab the tabbing tabs!" Omega suddenly materialized next to them.

"I never liked that nickname." Tabuu muttered with some resignation.

"I don't, either. Omega! Stop with the nickname war." Vadous walked over to them.

"Did ya manage to complete the Hector arc in _FE7_ , _shachou_?"

"Huh? Oh come on. You haven't hacked my cartridge, have you?"

"Of course not! I only blessed with smells of Choina!"

"I dunno what that means and I couldn't care less."

"FE7? Ah! _Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade_ , right?" Saito realized.

"Yeah. Some overseas fans name it FE7. It's a second play-through in hard mode… And it's challenging indeed." He admitted.

"We need Choina flavors, yessir… Let's ask Dragon to cook up a Dragon Smelling Lily!"

"Oh come on. Patent it for some RPG!"

"Sure. I'll go give it to the trio in _Wild Arms_ … Armsssss!"

Omega suddenly jumped and grabbed a tree branch to flip and begin climbing the tree to enter the treehouse: the group of four rolled their eyes and sighed.

"Oh well. Better that than getting obsessed with pride and calling everyone else "useless"…" Tabuu sighed.

"Yeah. I overdid it there but I learnt the lesson."

"Well. We're going to join the rest and watch the basketball match."

"Later."

"Sure."

The twins left and reunited with the others: the match was finishing the end of the first half already: Vadous drew a package of square fruit-flavored candies and picked a mint-flavored one.

"It helps calm down a bit."

"How did things go with the "Committee"?"

"Well. We managed to ID several of those "sleepers" and it'd seem that the NPA had sniffed some of them already, too… We're keeping an eye on them in case they start up trouble. But I don't think Princess Pride will bother to come up with a further reason to be extradited… I think she'll keep to her nation's matters and not interfere." Vadous told him.

"Surely. But it won't hurt to keep an eye out."

"Yeah. But without Eclipse to help her out then she shouldn't be able to use Dimensional Converters either. That asides… Eisei told me he was going off the radar again but he seems to be more confident on himself."

"Hum. Good point. Doesn't look she's too strong at computing, either, so she shouldn't be able to hack too much."

"And... Maybe the guys will be able to talk things through with Eisei. The guy might be able to come to understand "bonds" through them…"

"It'd be good if they got along, I think… By the way, _aibou_ … There's something I think you already told me but… Did Anaya expect you to be like Solid Snake from the _MGS_ games?"

"Yeah. A mix of Darth Vader and Solid Snake… Talk about a crossover. But fortunately she wasn't as paranoid as the "Patriots" and my genes don't have fail-safes that will cause accelerated aging or a shorter than the average lifespan. I decided to keep my artificial sterility and lack of sexual activity, though. It helps me work better, anyway."

"Thought as much."

"I've committed to myself to lend a hand. To stop types like Joker or Wily, who abuse of technology and try to start a cataclysm… I don't intend to fix the whole world, though. And I know I've got some questionable inventions but… So do many nations. I don't mind what they'll think of me. I am who I am. I'm not a public figure, anyway. I act from behind the scenes. Just like the "Committee"… They sought to counter those fools, the "Common Patterns"… Those mad guys who sought to turn everyone into tools without individual thought and come up with something _a la_ George Orwell… They've achieved that. But their purpose hasn't died off. They remain an intelligence agency that doesn't answer to governments… Yet they seek to support governments as well."

"That allows them to do things without having to worry about if it's beneficial for the politicians or not… And to be able to work without having to be hindered by power struggles between government agencies… Yes, they've done a good job. It's true that when faced with types like Hioki and such they've had a harder time but nevertheless they've sometimes helped lead an investigation the right track."

"Sure…"

"Kyah!"

"I'm the ghost of the treehouse~…"

"Sheesh. Now the guy is scaring the maids cleansing up the treehouse. I'm going to say something to him…!"

Vadous fumed and climbed up the steps while Tabuu shrugged and headed towards the rest of the group: the match's first half had ended and the group had resumed talking amongst them during the break time: he glanced around and spotted that Zarashe had joined the party as well and was animatedly talking to Netto and Saito while Beta X was sparring with Guts Man.

"…that kick by Anada that turned the tables!"

"Sure. That was cool. As expected of Anada!" Netto grinned.

"He may be a newbie but he's starting to look promising. Feels like he'll be the key player of this season."

"Go, my disciple! Let's save the world with wooden fans! 100% ecological, de masu!" Higure was cheering Dekao.

"Yes, teacher! Koyama Chuuo won't lose to foreigners come from beyond the mountains!" Dekao began to use a _samurai_ – like form of speaking all of a sudden.

"Beware, Koyama… Chuuyama is coming…" Tabuu walked over to him from behind and whispered.

"Guh! C-chuuyama~? Who the heck…? Who are ya? A grunt of Mirror Ball, huh? Bring it on! My Kentauros, "Otokomae", won't lose!"

"You named a Kentauros "Otokomae"? I thought you'd use for it for a Kairiki instead." Tabuu laughed.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Guys will be guys. I hope it wasn't a female Kentauros, though… That'd be gender-bender, no?" Meiru commented without too much surprise.

"O-of course not… It's a male…" His face turned red.

"Hum! Thee are the envoy of the lord beyond the mountains! Seya~h! Bring out thou blade~!" Higure suddenly got in a pose like he was wielding a blade.

"Beware, Yuuyami… The clients will go elsewhere…"

"WHA~T? No way, de masu!" He gasped.

"Thought as much." Number Man wasn't surprised.

"Kuh…! I concede defeat this time but… Next time things will be different! De masu~!" Higure tried to appeal as strong.

"We'll see. Time will tell, Mr. Higure." He grinned.

"Gattsu~!"

"A~h! I got done in by that multi-elemental combo~!"

"Zarashe – kun. We need to work on the weight of my wings and my ground speed. My aerial speed is good but I'll need some more ground speed." Beta X called out as he stretched.

"OK. When we go back home then we'll work on it."

"Hello! Sorry for being late. I met up with Ijuuin – kun on my way here, too!"

"Ah! Haruka. So you came as well. And…Glad to see you as well, Ijuuin – kun."

"Thank you, sir."

"… I smell trouble, sir."

Haruka (having put on a coat and a skirt plus black heeled shoes like she did when she went out) joined the party along with Enzan: Yuuichirou greeted both of them while Blues looked around.

"Yo. _Aniki_. Ya dropped by too, huh?" Red Sword called out.

"I knew it." Blues grumbled.

"Blues is as stubborn as ever." Cosmo Man muttered.

"Sure… Pride, I guess." Cloud Man agreed.

"But at least he did help us corner those wannabes." Blizzard Man added.

"At least Search Man and Colonel went back to their nations." Blues muttered as if ignoring Red Sword.

"Hum. Yamato Man and Dark Man helped corner some Navis posing as the "Force 2204"… Shadow Man helped as well… No big deal." Serenade ended a transmission.

"Yeah. As long as it's mere _amateurs_ …" Urakawa shrugged.

"We can handle 'em by the handle." Forte made a pun.

"Oh well… Looks like I'll have to cool down for a while 'cause Boss wasn't in the best of moods…"

"No wonder." Blood Shadow and Sigma muttered.

"…Kuwabara, kuwabara, kuwabara…" Higure and Dekao were reciting.

"Yamitarou… Reciting these things won't scare off evil spirits, you know."

"Guts, guts? Kuwabara, kuwabara…? What's that, de guts?"

"Don't mind it." Roll shrugged.

"Do you think all our battles were worth it, Netto – kun? Now we can be all together here and enjoy this time together." Saito whispered to Netto.

"Yeah. It all began with the WWW… Wily got caught and his men are now running a curry restaurant as part of their sentences so that they contribute to society… Under tight police surveillance, of course…"

"Feels so long ago… But… Now… It's up to us to ensure a future for those who will inherit our will… Hoshikawa - kun and his friends…"

"Yeah. We've got our friends and allies with us. We can do this!"

Both silently clasped their hands as they stood side by side and looked on at all the people present there and felt the friendly atmosphere surrounding them: both brothers then starred at the cloudless sunny skies and hope made their eyes glitter as they smiled…

 **THE END**


End file.
